All the Strength I Have
by WIWJ
Summary: "It took all the strength I had not to fall apart. Trying hard to mend the pieces of my broken heart." AU version of Designated Survivor. Emily Rhodes life becomes a tangled mess of lies and treason.
1. That Sad Look

"No, no everything's fine here." Tom Kirkman smiled a little glancing at his wife over the phone. She bit her lip and grimaced back at him. "I don't think we'll need anything while in our undisclosed location, go to the State of the Union. Have fun." He started to pull his phone away from his face before pressing it back. "And Em? Try not to be too hard on him okay? It's not like he was the one who fired me."

He clicked the phone shut and gave his wife a withering smile.

"I almost feel sorry for him."

"You SHOULD feel sorry for him. She's on the warpath." He snickered. "It's not like he had anything to do with it."

"He could have told her." She suggested.

"He really couldn't have." Tom shook his head. Alex looked away again. "What?"

"I'm just thinking about what this means for the two of them. Is she going to stay in DC? Is he? Are we?" She looked up at the ceiling for a second.

"It's a temporary job, no matter what. It was going to end sometime." He reminded softly.

"Yeah." She pressed her lips together, and met his eyes. "Yeah."

"I still wouldn't want to be him right now."

...

The heels of Emily Rhodes shoes clicked in short bursts across the tile floor of the lobby of the West Wing, she collected her bag from the security belt and looked into the wary eyes of her boyfriends assistant.

"Josh." She smiled curtly.

"Ms. Rhodes."

"Is he ready?" Her mouth set into a thin line, and raised an eyebrow impatiently. "It starts in 20 minutes."

"There's been a change of plans." He told her flatly.

"What do you-?" She stopped short, huffing out a breath. "They sidelined him."

"He was asked to stay behind and attend to some-."

"Where is he?" She sighed loudly, handing her coat and bag to the man.

"Where do you think?" Josh answered, chucking his head towards the stairwell.

...

Aaron Shore tossed the tennis ball against the cinderblock wall in front of him again. She caught the way his head bobbed back when he finally caught sight of her, backlit in the doorway.

"I know your mad at me but can we save the yelling until tomorrow?" He whispered without greeting.

"Aaron what the hell?"

"Em.." He sighed, pressing his hands into his face. "I'm serious."

She walked further into the room, her feet clipping against the bare floor until she reached the broken down desk. She gingerly lifted herself onto the corner, flinching as the table wobbled. Aaron's arm shot out to steady her.

"Be careful." He admonished softly, reaching out to touch her before stopping short.

Emily's body deflated for a second before reaching for his dropping hand and laying it on her abdomen. The corners of his lips lifted as he moved his hand across her pregnant belly.

"I didn't know until this morning." He whispered. "Langdon probably knew I wouldn't have been able to keep it from you." She put her hand on top of his and squeezed.

"What are we going to do?" Emily whispered softly.

"I could resign." He muttered. "Hell, I'll probably get fired after today."

"Did you defend Kirkman's honor?" She teased, kicking her leg out at him, his mouth twitched into an almost grin.

"I defended not sending my pregnant Girlfriend's boss back to Iowa." He smirked, before lifting his broody eyes to her. "Em."

She shook her head at him with a smile, moving his hand against her dress.

"Keep talking." She instructed.

"Why?" He sighed.

"Trust me." She grinned at him.

"Em. My day had really just sucked ass, and my night it not going much better. I appreciate you not being pissed at me but-." He froze, his eyes leaping to their joined hands.

"She knows her Dad's voice." Emily's melodic tone soothed him.

"Yeah?"

"She's been talking back to you for a few minutes now." She ran her free fingers down the side of his face as he leaned in towards her stomach.

"Hey Baby Girl." He whispered, pressing softly against the tiny ripples. "Daddy's going to figure this out."

He leaned his head forward and pressed into her thigh, she moved her fingers though his hair.

"Some how we'll figure this out."

"What was that?" Emily asked softly a few minutes later.

"What?" He murmured from his spot on her lap.

"I don't know the air vents just made a noise." She said, her head shaking back and fourth.

"The air vent-." He snickered. "We're in the basement of the White House. They make noise."

"Like a shaking sound." Emily continued, Aaron's laugh caused the baby to shift, he laughed again.

He was still harassing her about it when Josh stumbled breathlessly into the room.

"We need you upstairs." He told Aaron urgently. "Something's happened at the Capital."

...


	2. Could never live without you by my side

"Oh my God I thought you were dead." Alex Kirkman tossed her arms around the younger woman. "Oh my God, Emily." She cradled the young woman's face in her hands and looked into her eyes. "Are you alright? Is the baby alright?"

Emily nodded silently as the older woman's hand dropped to her abdomen, stroking it lightly before pulling her back to her body.

"The kids." Her husband's Chief of Staff managed to croak out.

"Mike's getting them now." She pulled back and looked at her face. "Oh Honey. Aaron? Was he? Is he?"

Emily furiously shook her head, the tears bouncing from her round cheeks.

"Present and accounted for Ma'am." Her boyfriend called crashing through the door followed by Tom Kirkman.

"Em." The older man called gathering her in his arms. "Thank God."

"We'd all be dead." She sobbed, her eyes meeting Aaron's over her bosses shoulder. "If he hadn't fired you. We'd all be dead."

"We're not dead."Kirkman whispered softly, pulling back from her. Emily tried not to launch herself unprofessionally into Aaron's chest when he reached for her hand.

"No. We're not." He held the other man's gaze. "You're alive, and you're the President of the United States."

...

Aaron watched the new President walk back towards the East Wing. Seth looked at him, his round brown eyes as lost as Aaron felt.

"Tomorrow. " He whispered, with what he hoped looked like a confident nod.

"Where's Emily?" Aaron noticed the peculiar way Seth spoke without moving his lips. He'd found himself doing that a lot today, memorizing all the idiosyncrasies of the people around him. The people he had left, he squinted at Seth, who until yesterday had been a name on a meeting census, a person he passed in the hallway, and now... "Aaron? Where's Emily?"

"Oh." He rubbed his face. "Home. I-." He shook his head as if it would clear things up; clear up the last 48 hours, clear up the mess that the world had suddenly become. "I sent her home, she was tired."

"Yeah. I'm tired. I can't imagine how she's doing this." Aaron's heart clenched at the thought of the weight of it all on Em. He nodded, trying to look confident.

"She's tough." More nodding. "She's really tough."

"Good." He sighed through still parted lips. "Good. We need to be."

Aaron was starting to feel like a bobble head doll.

"Get some sleep man. He'll need us tomorrow."

"Yeah." Seth blew out a long breath. "Yeah. Hey Aaron you too. Go home to your girl. We'll all need you tomorrow."

He smiled in a way that he hoped was more humble than doubtful and watched Wright walk back towards the entrance. He contemplated dropping his files and following him. Going straight back to Emily's brownstone and crawling into bed with her for the four hours he had left to sleep. He let his eyes drift close, knowing that wasn't happening anytime soon. He braced an arm on each side of his door frame and leaned into his office, trying to decide if he should work or toss himself on the old leather couch.

"Hey." He registered the soft rustle of her silk blouse against the firm leather before he heard her. He dropped an arm away pressing the opposite shoulder into the hinges. "What time is it?"

"Three hours past the time I sent you home to sleep." He raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah." She closed her eyes, her chin lulling back and fourth against her shoulder. "I didn't make it."

"Em." He sighed.

"Don't Aaron, okay?" She breathed. "I tried. I just.." He pale wine lips pressed together and he watched the tide rise in her eyes. "Couldn't."

He moved to floor in front of the couch, his tired limbs protesting as he folded them into a crisscross. He pushed his hand through her loose hair.

"You need sleep." He told her softly. "In a bed."

"What if I left and something happened?" She breathed back at him.

"Emily, Seth and I can handle things here with Kirkman for a little-."

"No." She pressed her manicured fingertips to his smooth lips. "What if something happened to the White House?" Her breath caught in her throat, as the tide of tears finally spilled over her lids. "What if something happened and I wasn't here and I was all alone?"

Aaron heard the rush of air leave his lungs and felt the sting in his eyes, but he didn't quite register the emotions; just the cold numb reality of her words.

"Am I a horrible mother?" She squeaked.

"What?" He forced out through still lips that made him suddenly realize why Seth's never moved.

"I should want to protect her right? Want her to be far away from here in case-. In case." Her broken gaze searched his face. "Aaron?"

Shore took a deep staggered breath and licked the salty tears from his trembling upper lip before pressing his forehead into his girlfriend's. Her hands clamored up to the sides of his temples and gently brushed away the wetness there.

"You are a great mother Emily." He pushed out, trying to keep from sobbing. "You are a great-. You're running on fumes. We're all running on-." He took another gulping breath. "You are keeping our family together Em. That's what mother's do, right? You're keeping us all together." He unfolded his legs and lifted her into his arms, turning until they were both securely on the sofa. "We're safe." He whispered. "She's safe Em. I'm going to keep you guys safe." She nodded against him, her hands curling into his dress shirt.

"A week ago my biggest fear was how I was going to tell my mother I had fallen in love with some guy I barely knew and we were having a baby." She whispered. He snorted out a laugh. "Now the whole worlds upside down."

Aaron pressed his lips into the side of her head, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Tomorrow we'll go talk to Mrs. Kirkman and get you a room in the East Wing." He told her.

"Us." She murmured sleepily. "Us a room."

Aaron let his hands trail over the spot where his daughter lay.

"Us a room." He sighed, dropping his head against the back of the couch and closing his eyes.

"Together." She murmured, he muttered back something affirmative before finally loosing his battle to sleep.


	3. I hold my head up high

"Aaron stay calm." Seth's soft voice was meant to be soothing, but all Aaron heard was a flat warning. He glared back at him before swigging his head back to the TV where his girlfriend's plane was surrounded by some not so friendly looking National Guard members.

"Calm?" He hissed away from the President's desk and at his phone.

 **Can I be worried now?** His text remained unanswered. He glanced back at the television screen, finding himself wishing she was more visibly pregnant. The small curve of her torso was hidden by her red coat. His eyes drifted to her phone, firm in the a-hole general's hand. "Calm."

The news channel was returning to it's anchor as the National Guardsman hung up on them. He wished that Emily was Chief of Staff and he was there in front of the angry treasonists and she was here advising Kirkman. Kirkman. Aaron's brain blinked back into focus and he turned his face back towards the President.

Kirkman was leaning against the oak desk with both arms, his tongue pressed against his cheek.

"Damn it." He huffed.

"Call her back." Aaron sounded almost pleading, his professional exterior slipping slightly. "We've lost this battle. Call her back."

The President nodded down to the table.

"I should have let her come back before." He told them.

Aaron rubbed his hands over his face.

They all jumped when the phone rang.

"Emily?"

"Sir." Aaron's shoulders dropped in relief when she spoke.

"Time to get you home before Aaron here has a heart attack."

"Aaron's heart can hold out a little longer Sir."

"Em!" The President's Chief of Staff whined unprofessionally.

"You have to stand up to bullies, Sir." Emily ignored him, pressing on.

"I don't know what else we can-." Kirkman shook his head.

"I have an idea, Sir."

 ** _..._**

 ** _You know that no one actually believed you when you said you weren't worried, right?_**

Aaron turned his phone around in his hand and waited for Kirkman to make his decision. It seemed like that's all he'd been doing lately.

He looked at Emily's text again before typing.

 ** _Checking in…_**

He tried not to stare at the screen, darting his eyes around the room.

 ** _Almost home._** He let the air drain slowly out of his lungs.

 ** _How long?_** Before Emily, he would have never let himself sound so pathetic.

 ** _Miss me?_** He hear the playful cadence of her voice in his head, it made him smile. Before Emily, had un-sanctimoniously ripped him a new one in the hallway of the West Wing when she overheard him calling the new HUD secretary idealistic; he wouldn't have wanted to admit that he missed a girl. It was half way through her tongue lashing that he was bemused to realize that he was fighting the urge to press his mouth to hers just to shut her up. He still felt that way sometimes, usually when she was passionately arguing her point to him. It was that passion that had made him fall in love with her.

 _ **It's been a long day**._ He replied, wishing he could see the slight shift of concern he knew would be in her eyes when she read his admission.

 ** _They all are these days aren't they?_** She was right. He had thought that his days as the Deputy Chief of Staff in the Richmond White House had been long. He'd thought that when he'd added his relationship Emily to his crazy life that they'd become almost unmanageable. And that was all before three months ago when she'd sat awkwardly ridged at their favorite spot to meet for lunch. At first he'd thought he was being dumped, until he'd stopped fuming long enough to pick up a few of the words tumbling from her mouth. It had been a surprise for her too. She was keeping it, not because she thought she had to, she was pro-choice, but because she wanted to. She didn't expect anything from him. He didn't have to be involved.

 _"Stop-." He had put up his hand. "Are you breaking up with me?"_

 _"I-." Her wide brown eyes met his, her wrinkled forehead and furrowed eyebrow_

 _made him smile. "I'm not sure. Am I?"_

 _"I hope not." He'd grinned a wide toothy grin at her._

 _"A baby is not a reason to stay together." She'd sounded almost pleading._

 _"It's not a reason to break up either, right?" He told her hopefully, his voice rising at the end._

 _"No." She'd said softly. "No, I guess not."_

 _ **I screwed up with Seth today**._ He looked at the message before leaning back in his chair and staring at the ceiling. Seth was everything they needed in a Press Secretary and more, and he'd blown it by playing the Muslim card. He didn't realize that was insensitive, if Emily had been here she'd have known.

 ** _I'm sure you didn't._** Her faith in him was both endearing and more ego bruising.

 ** _Trust me, I did._** He sighed heavily, for the second time today he thought she should have been Chief of Staff.

 ** _The mighty Aaron Shore never 'messes up'_** And just like that his smile returned.

 ** _I'll remind you of that the next time you're yelling at me._**

 ** _I don't yell at you!_** He accented the word yell, just like he knew she would have.

" ** _I love you._** " Aaron whispered the words out loud when he texted them. He'd been telling her that often lately. Especially since the bombing. He wondered if it was to reassure her or himself that they weren't alone.

 ** _Love you. We're landing. I'll find you after._**

He took a deep breath, he knew she'd be mad at him soon enough.

...

"No." Kirkman snorted. "I think that's a bad idea."

"Trust me Sir, she's already going to think it's coming from me any way."

"Aaron, I've known Emily a little longer than you."

"Yes Sir." Aaron swallowed hard. _Here we go_ , he thought.

"And I think I can take her wrath."

"Yes Sir." Aaron assumed that meeting Emily's actual parents would not be as difficult as meeting the Kirkman's had been. All in all, he was glad for the experience because it had prepared him to be his Chief of Staff. At the time, however; it had been kind of terrifying.

"And I know it's your job to protect me, but I'm not sure that includes from her." Emily had done plenty of protecting that night at dinner. Expertly deflecting her bosses soft almost passive aggressive strikes at President Richmond's opinions about the latest pet project of the HUD secretary.

"Yes Sir." It had been Leo, oddly enough, that had managed to swivel the conversation back to friendlier territory by bringing up baseball.

"You're going to be in enough trouble for agreeing with me." Kirkman raised his eye brows and waited for the group to disembark. Aaron's body relaxed when he saw her, he swept his eyes up and down her tiny form as if irrationally checking to make sure all of her was there. He wanted to take her hand and kiss her before Kirkman did what he had to do. He wanted a moment with her before she was mad, but even if it had been professional, there wasn't time.

Governor Royce was presented to them. Emily made the introduction, and Kirkman made the arrest.


	4. And I learned how to get along

This chapter really hurt to write. I have ton of Aaron sympathy right now and I let it loose in this chapter. I'm afraid it won't be smooth sailing for our dynamic duo.

...

"I hope you're proud. You should be proud, you've already managed to make changes to the very core of who he is." Aaron had known she wouldn't believe Kirkman anyway, he leaned back in his chair and took in the ceiling as she raged. "I don't even know who he is anymore."

"He's President of the United States." Aaron said calmly. "There is a lot that goes with that. It changes you." He waited, still keeping his eyes fixed on the bevel where the wall met the ceiling . "Each person changes the Presidency, but the Presidency also changes each person."

"If it's not a change for the better than I'm not sure I want anything to do with it." The irritation in her voice scraped over his already raw nerves. "What about becoming chief of staff? Does that change a person too?"

"Someone else you don't want anything to do with?" He rubbed his hand over his face.

"What?"

"I messed up with Seth today." He reminded her. "I somehow made offering him a promotion a bad thing." He laughed bitterly, his head shaking from side to side. "I watched on CNN as my pregnant girlfriend was surrounded by a National Guard Unit willing to commit treason against our boss." He shook his head, suddenly darting up from his chair and pacing slightly. "The whole time thinking that I wasn't up for this job, while trying to convey to our staff, our President, our country and you-. Mostly you Em. That I am up to it. And I knew. I knew that you would blame me about his decision on Royce, and I told him to just let me take the blame for it because at least then you'd only be disappointed in one of us. At which point he felt the need to remind me that he will always have known you longer, and therefore better, than I do." He stopped talking and turned to look at her wide eyes. "It was a shit day, Emily." His voice squeaked and he swallowed. "We won, and it was still a shit day." He leaned forward and picked his briefcase up off the sofa. "So, I'm sorry if your idealistic vision of the Kirkman White House took a hit today." He nodded to himself. "I'm sorry about that."

She looked at his briefcase.

"It was a shit day, and I'm going home." He turned and walked out before she could say another word.

…..

"You still up?" Kirkman looked up from the couch, pulling his glasses down his nose. He glanced between his sleeping wife, her head on his thigh and her hair splayed across his other leg, and the coffee table before dropping them onto the briefing book he was reading. "It's been a long day."

"I thought I owed you an apology." Emily whispered, the older man shook his head slowly from side to side, his free fingers absently stroking through a lock of Alex's hair.

"Like I said, it's been a long day." His head bobbed and she watched his apple shaped cheeks rise and fall as he smiled. "You did good work today. We've gotten Seth onboard at Press Secretary. The press event was not a total disaster.." He laughed before looking down at his wife. "And she was still waiting up when I got home." Emily smiled. "Go get Aaron from his office and go to bed. He had a pretty stressful day to."

Emily nodded, the smile leaving her face.

"You've got a good one there Em. He stayed cool today, despite everything." Kirkman continued. "I know I gave him a hard time, when you two started dating. " He chuckled to himself. "He's going to be a good father."

…..

Tom had given him a hard time, Emily mused to herself, gnawing at her lip as the car moved through the empty streets of DC.

Even after their ill fated HUD discussion at the first dinner they'd shared with the Kirkman's he'd still made a point of asking Aaron's opinions on ridiculous things every chance he'd gotten. Aaron for his part had taken every jibe, every trap and every snide comment in stride.

He always did, Emily thought, the tightness in her chest growing. He always took what was coming at him like it was his job alone to absorb it.

Emily went on tangents, Emily had pet peeves, Emily had downright irrational beliefs at times and Aaron met them all with a bemused smile.

 _"That boy is bewitched." Alex Kirkman had laughed as they'd sat in the livingroom of their old home watching Leo show Aaron and Tom some baseball video game. "I swear he looks at you like you are the most amazing thing he's ever seen. He's in love."_

 _"You think so?" Emily asked softly._

 _"Oh I know what a man in love looks like." She gave Emily one of her patented Alex Krikman half grins. "Trust me." Em smiled back. "And smart.. And oh so sexy."_

 _This time the younger woman blushed, tilting her head to the side._

 _"How'd he take it?" Alex asked running her top teeth across her lip and arching her eyebrows._

 _"Take what?"_

 _"The news he's going to be a father?" Alex reached out her hand and touched Emily's knee. "You've been green the last three mornings I've seen you and you've been to the bathroom four times tonight." She told her quickly. "Oh, and you said no to the wine at dinner. I'm a mom I know the signs."_

 _"I haven't told-." Her eyes darted towards her boss._

 _"My lips are sealed."_

 _"He took it…" She stopped to catch her breath. "He was happy." She shook her head in disbelief. "I thought for sure he'd head for the nearest exit, but he just-."_

 _"He's in love." Alex smiled._

"Thank you." Emily whispered to the driver as they pulled onto the curb. She grabbed her purse and started up the stairs of the brownstone. Her exhausted body felt every step like it was two. At the top of the stoop she fumbled for her keys and slid it carefully into the lock and moved into the dimly lit living room. Her eyes fell on the couch, his eyes were already fixed on her.

"I didn't want to wake you." She whispered, her lips already trembling at the site of him. It had been a while since she'd seen him disheveled, but there he was in pajama pants with his hair freshly washed, the unruly curls she hoped their daughter inherited, spilling everywhere. He lowered the scotch from his lips slowly.

"Couldn't sleep." He whispered back, swallowing hard.

"You're better at this than me." She whispered, he shook his head, putting the glass on the table and turning back to her.

"I messed everything up today, with Seth and-."

"Not that." She stopped him, gesturing between the two of them. "This."

He shook his head at her in confusion.

"You thought about her." She ran her hand absentmindedly over her bump. "And me. And the staff and Kirkman. You worried." Aaron swallowed hard as she slid onto the other end of the couch. "I-. I thought about proving to Kirkman that I was worthy." Emily didn't bother to wipe the tear making its way down her cheek. She reached out and ran her fingers through his dark damp locks. "I'm so sorry I'm not better at this."

"You're doing alright right now." He gave her a quick smile, and Emily moved closer. Aaron pressed his lips into hers with a soft whimper, she slid a knee on either side of him deepened it. "Getting even better."

She pulled back and looked at him with her glassy eyes, holding his face in her palms. Alex was right, she knew that, but looking at him now, she could really see it. His thumb gently wiped the tears off of her cheeks as she studied him.

"I love you. You know that right?" She breathed, her right eyebrow quirking up. He nodded slowly, before kissing her again.

"You need sleep." He whispered against her lips.

"I need you." She whispered back, molding her body against his for effect.

"You sure?" He asked again, moving his lips to her neck.

"Very sure." She breathed, gasping when he swung his legs over the side of the sofa and lifted them both of the couch.

"Don't have to tell me twice." He snickered as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

…

Emily moved her fingers back through his hair again.

"I need it cut." Her murmured sleepily, kissing her wrist. She sighed, covering the hand he had on her abdomen with his own. "I hope for her sake she has your hair."

"With all this heartburn she better have these curls." Emily snickered, curling closer.

"We have three whole hours to sleep." Aaron whispered.

"Magical." She sighed, almost asleep already. Aaron looked at the clock again, already plotting how to give her an extra hour or two.


	5. You see me somebody new

"Aaron Shore I cannot believe you let me sleep until nine!"

Aaron could tell she was smiling before he even saw her, he stopped chewing on his lip and closed his folder.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He smirked at her.

"You're going to get me fired." She teased, dropping her head and kissing him softly.

"It's how I rid myself of the competition." He whispered, threading his hand into her hair and pulling her down for another kiss.

"Thank you." She whispered, he smiled giving her a wink.

"I need to talk to you about something." He added before she'd had a chance to move on to the next topic.

"What's wrong?"

"Does the name Jeffrey Meyers mean anything to you?" He sighed, he watched her eyelids flutter for a second and tried not to answer.

"No." She said too quickly, with a brisk shake of her head. Aaron waited, tilting his head at her. "Aaron.."

"We're on the same team, Em." He whispered.

"It's not _my_ past." She told him.

"You'll talk to her?" He sighed and she nodded again looking away. "Em.. _We are_ on the same team."

"You did op research." She looked back at him.

"Yes." He answered flatly. "I need to stay ahead of things coming at us." She nodded again. "You know that everyone out there is gathering as much information as they can right now. There will be people that come at us. It's my job to protect the president."

"I know." She said softly, laying her hand on his arm. "I'll talk to her."

He swallowed hard, closing his other hand over her wrist.

"We need to go over the schedule for the Governors'-." Emily pressed her mouth into his. Aaron started for a second before deepening it. She traced her fingertips over the faint lipstick marks on his upper lip. He tilted his head in silent question.

"I know you're on my team." She promised keeping her eyes locked on his, as the sides of his lips rose just enough for her to see. "So the Governors' Ball?"

…

"Aaron."

"Ma'am." Shore smiled, gesturing for her to sit.

"Emily and I spoke a few days ago." She smiled. "And for once it was not the latest relationship gossip."

"Yes Ma'am." He laughed politely.

"She says you were asking about Jeffrey Meyer." She cut right to the quick, meeting his soft understanding gaze with her laser hot one.

"Ma'am, It's my job to protect the-."

"Protect the president." She finished with him, giving a quick nod. "She said that too." Aaron couldn't help but grin. "We both understand. I um.. Dated Jeffrey before Tom and I met. He's in prison, which you already know. Tom knows everything."

Shore sat slowly in the chair in front of the first lady, leaning forward slightly.

"Ma'am, Meyer is claiming to be Leo's father." Aaron whispered softly. "I need to know if that is a possibility."

Her look gave it away, Aaron nodded down to his clasped hands.

"Does Leo know?" He asked, thinking of the many times the boy had run interference for him when his father was determined to remind him he wasn't good enough for Emily. He'd seen the pictures of Meyer. He knew it was entirely possible. Alex Kirkman's lips trembled and she pressed it into a sad smile. Aaron nodded in understanding.

"It all happened very quickly." She admitted. "Tom and I."

"That I understand." He snorted, his head jerking to the left.

"I'm sure you do." Alex laughed, despite the tear that slipped off of her cheek. Aaron handed her a handkerchief. "Thank you." She grinned. "Always the gentleman."

"If it comes up we'll do our best to squash it, but you should be prepared." She grinned at him again, nodding.

…

"What an awkward conversation." Emily's voice called from the bathroom. "I when she said she'd handle it I didn't think she meant she'd head to your office."

"Yeah it wasn't exactly a treat." Aaron folded back his cuff and secured his cuff-link. "She cried."

Emily made a groaning noise, moving from the bathroom and coming up behind him. He felt her hands on his shoulders, smoothing out the back of his jacket.

"Poor Alex." She whispered. "She doesn't deserve any of this crap. Leo really doesn't deserve any of it."

'The sooner we get on top of it the better." He grunted, turning to face her, the look of concern dropping off of his face. "You look amazing."

"I look pregnant." She sighed. He looked around the room before dropping his cheek to hers.

"I don't know why I'm the bearer of all the awkward news today, but.. you are pregnant." He whispered, feeling her eyelashes flutter closed as she giggled.

"I'm just still not sure I'm ready for the whole world to know." She pulled back and raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend.

"I might be best if you went ahead and told your mother." He tilted his head at her.

"Ug! Aaron! She's going to have questions." Emily pressed her forehead against his chest.

"Like?" He lead her gently.

"Like 'How did this happen?'"

"Sex." He mused as she pulled away to put on her earrings. "I'm fairly certain it was the sex."

"Who's the father?" Emily shot back towards him.

"This amazing guy who she is going to love." He gave her his most charming face.

"When are you getting married?" Emily folded her arms across her chest and watched Aaron's face screw up before he reached for the sheer drape that went with her dress. He dropped it onto her shoulders and crossed it over her abdomen.

"There." He said confidently. "Now it just looks like you had a big lunch."

Emily burst out laughing and he drew her into his arms.

"Would it be better if she found out on the news?" He pressed his chin to the top of her head. "'Cause you can only hide it for so long. I mean, from what I understand baby's are noisy."

"What about you? When are you going to tell your family about me?"

"Done." Aaron shook his head. "I told them about you after like three lunch dates."

"Liar."

"Serious." He held his arms up in surrender. "I told my cousin it was end game. That I was planning on following you around as long as you'd let me."

"Three dates in?" Emily smiled.

"It was when you laughed at my 'ways and means' joke." He raised his eyebrows. "I mean seriously, who doesn't hold onto a girl that gets a 'ways and means' joke?"

"It was funny." She nodded.

"It was very funny, and political and smart." He told her confidently.

"So you fell for my brain?" She gave him an appraising look.

"I fell for your fiery temper." He admitted, pulling her close again. "And this little divot right here." He pressed a kiss to the dip in her clavicle. "And the way you get is crease right here." He ran his fingernail between her eyes. "When you know I'm right but don't want to admit it." She pushed his hand away. "But I knew I was sticking around when you got the 'ways and means' joke."

"Good thing I was up on the current state of 'ways and means' at the time." She murmured, pressing her lips to his. "We're going to be late."

"Good thing we're already there." He took a deep breath and led her to the door of the residences guest room and out into the main room where the president and first lady were waiting. "When'd you know?"

"Who said I do?" She teased, Aaron rolled his eyes before smiling over her shoulder at the Kirkman's.

"Well now, you two clean up nice." Tom said, appraising them both.

"Not to bad yourself." Emily smiled back.

"Shall we?" He gestured towards the door before guiding Alex in front of him. Emily reached out for Aaron's wrist and gave it a quick squeeze before Seth slid up beside them.

"Hey." Emily smiled at her friend.

"Hi." He exchanged nods with Aaron. "You look fantastic."

"Thanks." Aaron answered quickly, raising his arm to their colleague. "New cuff-links."

"Thank you Seth." Emily said flatly. "Do I look pregnant?" She added quickly. "I think I look pregnant."

Seth turned to Aaron.

"She knows she is actually pregnant right?" He whispered conspiratorially.

"I tried to tell her back there Man." Aaron quipped back, pointing in the direction from which they'd just come.

"You two are-." She shook her head as the entered the room and veered off from the Kirkmans. "Oh crap!" Both Aaron and Seth's heads snapped towards her as she spun away from the crowd. "Oh crap."

"What?" Aaron reached out and grasped her elbow as Emily brought her handbag up and held it at waist level. "What's wrong?"

"It's Kyle." She pressed her eyes shut.

"Kyle?" Aaron shot back looking over her shoulder trying to guess which one it was.

"Who's Kyle?" Seth asked urgently, press nightmares flying though his mind.

"Why is he here?" Emily moaned before looking down at her bag. "Oh God I look so pregnant."

"Which one?" Aaron's voice held something Seth didn't like at all.

"Guys who the hell is Kyle?" He asked again.

"Crap!" Emily pressed her lips together.

"Her ex boyfriend." Aaron studied the crowd of males in front of him.

"And that's bad because?"

"It's her ex boyfriend." Aaron looked at him like he was an idiot.

"And that's bad." Seth finished.

"Emily hasn't told anyone she's pregnant."

"I'm sorry?" Seth screwed up his face and looked at her obviously pregnant body, he widened his eyes at Aaron.

"Anyone outside of-." Aaron gestured around the room. "Washington."

"Oh." Wright looked at the two of them strangely, then back at the crowd. "Oh!"

"Oh my God." Emily muttered. "He's going to tell his sister, and she's going to tell their mother, and she'll tell my mother." She shook her head back and forth.

"Em." Aaron gripped her elbow.

"Why the hell is he here?"

"Emily." Aaron repeated looking over her shoulder. "Calm down."

"I can't believe I didn't tell them."

"Why exactly didn't you tell them?" Seth asked shaking his head.

"I was going to!" Emily spat back at him. "But then the Capital exploded and I've been busy!"

"Em." Aaron tried again to intercede, his eyes fixed behind her.

"What?!" She looked up at him, he was smiling formally at someone over her shoulder. Emily grimaced.

"Hello." Aaron said calmly, his hand reaching down and lifting her clutch up a little higher before she started to turn.

"Emily."

"Kyle." She smiled at him. "It's good to see you."

"Uh. Oh." Seth said softly. "I'm going to-." He pointed over his shoulder and Aaron gave him a quick head nod. "Good Luck."

"You look breath taking." Aaron swallowed hard keeping his steely eyes on Kyle.

"Thank you." She said quickly, clutching at her purse. Kyle looked at Aaron expectantly. Aaron wondered if he expected him to leave, or introduce himself.

"This is Aaron Shore." Emily said quickly.

"Ah, White House Chief of Staff." Kyle put out his hand and Aaron took it. "Nice to meet you."

Aaron continued with the formal smile as Kyle ran his eyes back up and down Emily's dress. She clutched the purse harder.

"I'm surprised to see you here." Emily said quickly.

"I'm here with Howard." He gestured back towards the area he came from.

"Oh. Right I'd forgotten you were on staff with Governor Howard for a while when we were in college." She scolded herself for forgetting.

"You've had a lot going on I'm sure. Special Adviser to the president is probably a pretty demanding job." He said flatly. "I'm sure the guy you left me for is feeling abandoned." Aaron's eyebrows shot up, Emily made a grunting noise. Kyle looked up at Shore, seemingly remembering him for the first time. "Probably not the kind of thing you say in front of the COS."

"Probably not the kind of thing you say." Aaron said bluntly.

"Emily and I used to date." Kyle continued. "We actually dated since college I'm the reason she came to Washington. You might say I'm the reason she is where she is today."

"I wouldn't say that." Aaron's replied.

"Then she comes to me and says it's not working out. I'm thinking I'm not spending enough time with her, busy job and all, but no she tells me that no, it's not that. She's met someone else." He shook his head. "It's that something?"

"It's something." Aaron repeated.

"Kyle, Aaron and I have work to do." Emily said softly. "It was good seeing you." She pushed at her boyfriend with her free hand.

"That's the guy you dated for seven years?"

"Stop." Emily was grinning, he could hear it in her voice.

"That's him?" Aaron snorted, pressing his fingers to his lips to keep from laughing.

…

(after shots fired)

"Hey." Aaron made his way back into his office unscrewing a bottle of ice tea. "The Governors are all cleared out and the Kirkman's have gone back to the residence ." He held the bottle out to Emily. She continued to look at her phone until he battled it away with his hand. "So-. We need to-. Em." He held the bottle up to her. "You're supposed to stay hydrated" She looked up at him for a moment before taking a drink. "You okay?"

"I want to tell my mom." She told him softly.

"Okay." He nodded.

"Right now." She announced.

"Right now?" He repeated.

"Yeah." She nodded, as Aaron reached up and pushed a fallen lock of hair behind her ear before tapping on the bottle of water. She took another drink. "Right now."

"Okay." He nodded his head and she started to dial the phone.

"Mom? Yeah I'm fine. Didn't you get my text? A Secret Service Agent was hit, but it looks like he's going to be okay." She looked at Aaron. "Mom I'm calling because I have to tell you something. Something important. I should have told you already but there has been a lot going on.. Mom." She pressed her eyes shut. "You asked me why I broke up with Kyle and I said it wasn't working out? Truth is it hadn't been in a long time and well, I'd met someone." She opened her eyes and looked at Aaron. "Yes. I met someone else and I knew. I knew, after like five minutes that he was the guy I was supposed to be with." Aaron smiled at her and she smiled back. "His name is Aaron. We've been together for about six months now. Yes. I know six months is a long time, Mom." She laughed, leaning her head onto his shoulder. "I'm about to give you more to be mad at me about If you'd just wait." She laughed, sniffing back the tears that were starting to make there way down her cheeks. "I'm.. I'm pregnant." Emily bit her bottom lip and listened to her mother's reaction. "May 26th." She whispered. "Yes. Mother May." Aaron pressed his lips to her forehead. "I know that's soon, Mom. I'm sorry there's been a lot going on. Aaron… Shore. Oh Jesus you're telling-." She looked at Aaron. "She's telling my Dad. Yes. Mom that Aaron Shore." She snorted out a laugh. "Yes he is very attractive."

Aaron's shoulders shook as he flashed her his most charming expression.

"Told you." He mouthed.

"No. Mom we haven't set a wedding date yet." She looked up at Aaron, who laughed loudly.

…..

"Mr. Shore right?" Aaron hated being called Mr. Shore, he turned slowly towards the voice. "Kyle Martino we met last night."

"Yes." Aaron blinked at him. "Governor Howard."

"Yes, I'm with Howard. I was hoping you'd forgive me for last night. I was.. Less than professional." He made a face. "I'm afraid I had one scotch too many."

"I understand." Aaron smiled politely, spotting Emily across the room. She looked from Kyle to Aaron with a wide eyed expression.

"The Governor looks forward to working with this White House and he want's you to know the President has his respect."

"That's wonderful to hear." Aaron said politely. "Thank you."

"Good morning." Emily said brightly. "Kyle nice to see you again so soon."

"You bring me one of those?" He pointed at her water bottle, she shook her head but offered her own up to him. He took a drink. Kyle watched.

"Kyle here was just letting me know that he looks forward to a working relationship with us."

"That's wonderful." Emily smiled at him.

"No coffee this morning?" He asked Emily with a smirk."I'm not used to seeing you without one this time of day."

"I'm afraid I'm sans caffeine for a few more months." She smiled, setting her hand on the swell of her abdomen. Her ex's eyes followed it immediately. "It makes the baby jumpy."

"She takes after her father." Aaron said softly, making a show of holding Emily's hand in his own after taking the water bottle from her again.

"We should sit." She told Aaron. "Kyle it was good seeing you."

Aaron followed her across the room.

"You know that guys doing math frantically in his head right now." Aaron whispered leaning over to her.

"No he's not." She raised an eyebrow, he raised his back.

"The day you almost kissed me in the coat room of the EOB?"

"And you told me you were with someone else." He reached into his briefcase and retrieved their briefing books.

"And you told me 'Not for long.'" She smiled at him. "That was the moment I knew we were endgame." He smiled back, holding her eyes as he handed her the materials. "That's like a whole month before you knew, in case you were keeping score or something."

….


	6. I was petrified

A/N this chapter made me sad, even though it's probably my favorite ep. Please enjoy the fluffy parts of this chapter. Then as you prepare for what's to come, whisper over and over.. They are endgame. They are endgame..

* * *

"Hey." Seth winced a little at the crumpled heap on the couch in Aaron's office.

"Hi." Emily mumbled back, swiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. "I'm sorry. Hormones."

"Sure." Seth whispered. "From what I hear you were right in your assessment of the Perv. if it makes you feel any better."

"Yeah well, I basically signed my career's death certificate when I went after Hazelten. So stupid."

"Yeah Seriously." Aaron quipped as he moved past Seth into his office uncapping a bottle of water. "I mean you clearly should have foreseen that fact that you would be propelled into Presidential politics before you were properly prepared and that this one retired asshole Senator would be the one guy who could unravel everything. How stupid of you." He sat on the edge of the couch and handed her the bottle. "Now drink."

"Aaron." Emily moaned gesturing to the empty bottle on the floor.

"Yeah you cried all of that one out."

"What is it with you and the hydrotherapy?" Seth teased as Emily complied with a spiteful gulp.

"She gets dehydrated. Every time we see the Baby doctor-."

"Obstetrician." Emily corrected.

"Whatever." Aaron shot back.

"You're one of the most powerful men in Washington you cannot call it the 'Baby Doctor.'" She shook her head.

"Anyway," Aaron turned back to Seth. "She's always dehydrated and her Obstetrician says it can cause problems." He looked at Emily. "So drink it."

"Okay. Now that mystery is solved where are we on the hearings?" Wright looked to his boss.

"No we need to talk about this."

"We don't." Aaron huffed as if they'd already had this argument. Seth figured they had. "It will blow over. Seth agrees with me"

"No he doesn't. Seth tell him I'm right." Emily begged with a teary glance.

"Not touching this one guys."

"Our whole agenda." She looked mournfully back at her boyfriend

"He is not going to accept your resignation Em." Aaron huffed.

"Which is why I'm giving it to you." She shot back.

"I think I should go." Seth's wide eyes swung between the two of them.

"No. Stay." She pointed at her boyfriend. "Convince him I'm right."

"Not a chance in hell." Aaron said, his voice low.

"Yeah, I'm out." Seth backed up towards the door. "This seems like a private.. thing."

"It's your job to protect the Presid-." She hissed.

"He needs you here." Aaron interrupted, leaning towards her. "And he's not the only one."

"Awe." Seth's sigh brought them back to attention, and he blinked as two heads snapped towards him. "Sorry, it's just sometimes I forget you guys are-. I mean you're kind of adorable."

"Why are you in here again?" Aaron grunted, Emily just giggled.

"I wanted to say 'I told you so.'" He held up his folder. "A list of people who want interviews with the President."

"Yeah, feel free to tell them no." Aaron rolled his eyes and tapped the bottle of water. Emily rolled her eyes back at him in response.

"Can't blame them. Who wouldn't want five minutes with the President." She said after swallowing.

"Wait. What did you just say?" Aaron whispered, his face clouded over. She repeated herself and his eyes flashed triumphantly. "You're so brilliant." He mumbled pressing his lips into her forehead. "Em Call the Venezuelans and tell them I'm coming over!" He tossed his coat on and made his way out the door before calling back. "Seth make her finish the water!"

"What the hell just happened?" Wright murmered.

"I have no idea." She shook her head. "I rarely do."

He nodded, then continued to stare at her.

"What?" She quirked up her eyebrow, he nodded at the bottle. "Christ." Emily huffed before raising the thing to her lips as she grabbed the phone.

A few minutes later across town, Aaron was reminding himself not to rip a man's limbs off.

"Yes but you hurt perhaps irreparably, a good person. A brilliant loyal adviser to the President and incidentally the mother of my child, being that I'm the one person who can grant you access to the president why should I reward you with his time?"

"Because I had to hang your girlfriend in the wind to get his attention, but I'm also the guy who can save her career."

Aaron looked him up and down before swallowing hard.

"I'm listening." He said simply.

…...

"She in there now?" Seth whispered.

"Yeah. Everythings going to be fine." Aaron exhaled.

"Thank God." Seth smiled. "You really came through, she owes you."

"Yeah. Hopefully." Aaron smirked down at his desk.

"You got a request?" Seth joked.

"Yeah." Aaron picked up a box off the table, opened it and flashed it at him. "Marriage."

"Holy shit!"

"Yeah." He looked down at the ring again.

"When did you have time to buy that?"

"Before." Aaron nodded. "I was going to ask her earlier but then.. Everything.."

"Blew up?" Seth grunted, leaning in and looking at the ring. "That's really nice man."

"Thanks." Aaron let it shut, dropping it in his pocket. "I'm going to try and get her to dinner, like in a location that isn't... here."

"Good luck." Seth smiled, shaking his head.

"Hopefully I won't need it? Hit her with this while I'm still on her good side" He looked up as Emily entered the room. "Hey, how'd it go?"

"Like you don't know." She teased, smiling widely.

"I've got stuff to do." Seth smiled back, before winking at Emily. "Welcome back, it's like you never left."

She shook her head at him with a snicker. Aaron crossed the room and pulled her against his chest. She let out a long slow breath.

"You need me here?" He could tell she was grinning.

"I need you everywhere I go." He whispered, feeling her press tighter. "Speaking of go, we are going to dinner tonight. Someplace nice."

"To celebrate my not getting fired?" She mused, pulling back to look at him. He pressed his lips into hers and her eyes widened. "The doors open." He looked up and raised his eyebrows.

"Sure is." He kissed her again.

"Stop! I have to work here." She grinned.

"Dinner?" He said pointedly, letting her go. "When you're done working?"

"I might like that." She told him, walking towards the hall.

"Is that a yes?" Aaron watched her leave.

"Don't I always say yes?" She called back.

"Counting on it." He whispered, pulling the ring box from his pocket, tossing it up and catching it.


	7. I'd lay down and die

A/N and so it begins. I posted the previous chapter to this early today but did not get the email on it. So I don't know if you guys did either. Even if you read them both together I still want two reviews.. lol -Thanks.

...

"Em?" She jumped.

"Kyle? What are you doing here?"

"I'm working for Senator Orien." He smiled. "I'll be around a lot more now."

"Wow, Congratulations." She tried not to scowl as his eyes moved over her body. "Find something you like?"

"Sorry. It's just weird." He shook his head. "You, pregnant."

"You find it weird?" She arched her eyebrows. "Which part exactly?"

"That after dating the same person for seven years you get knocked up by some guy you barely know."

"Excuse me?" She took a step back.

"Come on Emily. It's not like I'm some stranger who has no right to question it." He laughed, turning to face her.

"You may not be a stranger, but you do not have any right to question it." She told him quickly.

"How'd you meet him?" He continued.

"I owe you answers because?"

"Because we're old friends." His aggressive tone slipped away. "And I was a jerk to you in the end, but I wasn't always a jerk was I?"

Emily stood there for a second before blowing out a long breath. The next thing she knew she was in the Mess explaining her relationship to her ex boyfriend.

"I met him at the EOB, when he was DCOS and I was with Kirkman." She said softly.

"Ah. An office romance."The man held up his coffee in mock salute .

"It wasn't like that." She said softly. "We didn't-. I didn't get involved with Aaron until after I broke things off with you."

"That's good to know." Kyle fiddled with the stirrer. "Not that we were still.. getting involved.. at that point in our relationship anyway.

"Aaron made a comment." She smiled. "About you thinking our baby might be yours."

"Maybe if you were an elephant." He snorted. "Did we just fall out of love?"

"Kyle.." She swallowed. "We made sense.."

"Wow."

"What?"

"You are really head over heels for this guy." He shook his head. "Who you just met."

"Stop saying that. I did not just meet him."

"Six months?"

"I officially met him two years ago. We were introduced when I went to work for Kirkman."

"He's Kirkman now?" Kyle smiled. "What happened to Tom?"

"He's the President Kyle, I can't call him that anymore." She smiled.

"Crazy." He blew out a short breath.

"It felt that way at first." She looked at him. "Now it just feels right."

"Kirkman's presidency or your love affair with his Chief of Staff?"

"Both." She smiled.

"It's unbelievable, how the most horrific event really changed your life for the better. You went from staffing the HUD secretary to Presidential Adviser" Kyle shook his head like it was a sad fact.

"I don't really see it that way but whatever." She raised her eyebrows.

"And your lucky boyfriend! Holy shit, everyone he worked with is dead and he gets his dream job. And his girlfriend survives because her boss gets canned that morning. "

"Aaron lost almost everyone he knew." She shot back at him. "I would hardy say that makes him lucky."

"I didn't mean to be callous." Kyle scoffed.

"Well you were."

"I'm sorry. It's the jealousy talking."

"Jealousy?" She smirked.

"You never glowed for me." He gestured to her.

"I'm pregnant, it's sweat." She muttered and he laughed.

"I'm happy for you Emily." He said softly. " I am. I'm just being a little protective I guess. I know how these Washington types are. They are ruthless and they use people. I just want you to be careful."

"It's not like that."

"I hope not."

…..

"So?"

Seth looked expectantly at Aaron.

"No go."

"She said-?"

"No of course she didn't!" Aaron sneered at him. "She fell asleep on the ride over."

"Oops."

"Yeah. So incidentally I didn't wake her up to ask her." He gestured to the chair. "Hey Sweetie, you might not remember this in the morning but let's get married."

"Probably a good call." He nodded. "So you're trying again?"

"Yeah. Eventually, I feel like I have to get it in before the next thing you know?"

"Yeah." Seth's eyes widened as he tipped his head to Aaron. "There's an Elvis at 930 tonight."

"Ug I hate Elvis." He winced.

"Emily loves Elvis." Seth reminded him.

"Emily does love Elvis." Aaron moaned.

"You could have him sing 'Love me Tender' to her."

"Ug No." Aaron laughed.

"More a Hound Dog kinda guy?"

"Stop." He groaned.

"Okay let's go over the logistics for the press access to McLeish." Seth suggested holding up his notes. "I'll leave you to woo your girl all on your own."

"Yes Please."

It only took Seth ten minutes into his monologue before he realized the Chief of Staff wasn't listening.

"And then I thought we'd have unlimited access for Kermit the Frog, he's a solid reporter been around for ever, it says 'press' on an index card on his hat"

"Sounds good." Shore mumbled to his paper.

"Seriously dude?" The press secretary grimaced.

"Huh?" The other man blinked.

"Are you still stuck in Emily world or am I more monotone than usual today?"

"I can't help falling in love with you." Aaron sighed.

"I'm touched but-." He raised his eyebrows to accompany his smirk.

"That's the song." Aaron laughed with a wince before smiling at Wright. "That's the song."

….

"Hey Sleeping Beauty."

"You snuck out on me this morning." She accused, arching her eyebrows.

"I actually snuck out on you last night. I had some stuff to do here and then I fell asleep on the couch in my office."

"You left me all alone in your bed?"

"After you fell asleep in the car on the way to my big fancy dinner? Yes." He laughed.

"Big _and_ fancy?" She whined.

"The string quartet I ordered was crushed." He teased. "But they could hear you snoring from the passenger seat when I called to cancel so.."

"I am sorry." She gave him a sorrowful glance.

"You'd had a long day. You barely moved when I lifted you out of the car."

"I'm not sure you're going to be able to do that much longer." She moaned.

"I almost couldn't do it this time." He grimaced and stretched out his back, she smacked him in the abs, and he rewarded her with exaggerated oaf. "You could make it up to me tonight."

"Yeah?"

"Elvis at the 930 Club?"

"Elvis is dead." Emily quipped.

"That's what they tell you.." He put his finger in front of his lips for secrecy and she giggled.

"Let's do it. I'll take a nap."

"Okay." He leaned in and kissed her hairline.

"Stop with the PDA!" She giggled, pulling back when her phone buzzed. "What's gotten into you?"

"I think they may be on to us Em." He laughed poking her stomach, she pushed his hand away with a grin.

"Kirkman want's me." She read.

"I'll see you later?" He asked, leaning in ever so slightly, Emily glanced around before leaning in and pressing her lips to his in a chaste kiss.

….

Emily sat perfectly still, staring at the paper before her. The paper she had been so honored and thrilled to receive. Until the secret service agent had actually handed it to her.

It had been a whirlwind. She'd almost gotten fired yesterday, and now she was back to being Kirkman's most trusted adviser. She had just been delivered a folder with top secret information about the bombing.

A list, he'd called it. Like it was a bunch of stuff that he wanted her to pick up at the store and not prospective traitors. Before it arrived, she had imagined pouring it over with Aaron later this afternoon. Now, she wished she had been fired yesterday. She wished she had never seen this list, more specifically, the third name on it.

Emily wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting there before she pushed herself up and made her way down to Mike's office.

"Turner just dropped of the list."

"Yes." Mike had said noncommittally.

"Have you seen it?" He looked away, she moved back into his line of site demandingly. He shook his head, but she wasn't convinced."Who made this list?"

"It was generated by several white house staffers based on non-consequential questions."

"Like what?" She hissed.

"Like who was here during a certain time period? Who had the access to this classification of documents? Who is still alive? People who met all the requirements are on your list."

"Aaron is on it." She snapped, his eyes drifted to her before he swallowed. "You don't seem surprised."

"He would have fit the criteria." Mike said finally, it made sense.

"Did Kirkman see this list?" She demanded, biting the edges of her lip to keep her hormonal tears at bay.

"He did not." Emily looked around before sinking into a chair, Mike sat down as well. "He didn't think it was a good idea, since most of those people are innocent, possibly all of them. I doubt that it even occurred to him Shore would be on the list. He certainly doesn't think that he is capable of something like that."

"Do you think that-?" She couldn't say it, her head shook from side to side.

"No Ma'am, but it's not my job to think that. It's yours." He sighed.

"Did you just Ma'am me?" She chuckled bitterly. "Remember how not that long ago we were just two people who worked with the HUD secretary?" Rhodes wiped her eyes. "You're now head of the freaking President's detail, you've been shot.." She gestured to his arm. "And I'm investigating my boyfriend for treason and you Ma'amed me."

Mike's flat affect broke slightly, his mouth lifting in the right corner.

"You're laughing in your head." She sniffed. "I can't do this. I have to go back to Kirkman and say I can't do this."

"Or." Mike paused and waited.

"What, I try to prove that the father of my child is a traitor?"

"Or not." Mike said softly. "You can almost guarantee him a fair shot. Do you think that General Cochrane would?"

"Cochrane?" It made her itch just thinking about the blow hard disgrace.

"I think he'd be the next person Kirkman would ask." Mike looked at her. "You want that?"

….

Maybe if she looked long enough at the list his name would disappear. Maybe she wouldn't keep thinking about what Kyle had said this morning, about her lucky boyfriend who came out off the bombing on top of the world.

"Where were you?" Emily froze, carefully closing the folder before looking up at Aaron.

"What?"

"Legislative Affairs?"

"Oh Sorry. I got caught up in what I was doing." She gestured to the papers in front of her.

"Everything okay?" She nodded. "What was the Kirkman thing this morning?"

"Oh. He wanted to talk about the new HUD guy. It's a big deal to him, you can imagine.."

"I get it. So I was thinking we could get ready at the residence tonight and leave here by 8:45 so be ready to close up shop by then okay?" He smiled at her, and she furrowed her eyebrows. "Em?"

"I'm sorry, it's just.." He watched her bite her lip. "I think this is going to take forever. Can we rain-check?"

"Sure." His eyes narrowed and he took a few steps towards her. "Is there something I should be worried about? This HUD thing or..?"

"No." She smiled at him, it didn't reach her eyes. "I'm just still trying to catch up from yesterday and-."

"You'd tell me?" He whispered as her voice trailed off. She nodded back at him. "I'll catch up to you later."

"Yeah." Tried to sound calm.

"Drink water. " Called back towards the room as he walked away.

Emily pressed her hand to her face and tried not to cry.

….

Langdon. Langdon made the phone call.

She'd been whispering that over and over in her head all day.

She'd met him, more than once. Aaron had worked closely with him, the three of them had dinner together once, early on. Tom had liked him too.

Aaron was currently looking at her like her head was about to fall off, she smiled at him, the first genuine smile that she'd been able to give him since she'd seen his name on the list. He still looked dubious. She was already figuring he was blaming it on pregnancy hormones. Hopefully she'd have this wrapped up soon and she'd have to tell him the harrowing tale of trying to make it look like she was actually investigating him.

He put his hand on the small of her back and she let him lead her to where they'd sit for the oath, until her phone rang and Amanda from the switchboard made her rethink everything she knew about her life in one quick sentence.

"His Deputy, Aaron Shore."

The woman's voice still rang in her ears as she tried to focus on the swearing in of McLeish, but the right side of her body burned in closeness to him. She simultaneously wanted to reach for him and run off the stage.

Then there were shots. Then Kirkman was down, her body instinctively moving towards her boss until Aaron's hands were on her arms and he was pulling her away.

…..

"Are you sure you're okay?" He looked at her again.

"I'm fine."

"I just think it couldn't hurt to have had someone at the hospital look at you-."

"Aaron, I told you. I'm fine."

"Okay." He put up his hands up before dropping them to his sides. "I'm sorry. It's been a long day."

"I'm just worried about the President." She said softly.

"So am I." He studied her. "I'm also worried about our child."

Her hand went instinctively to her waist and Aaron's fingers jerked as if her was going to touch her before he pulled back. Emily bit her lip, remembering Alex's sobbing plea, how weak Tom had looked lying in the bed, and the blood on her silk blouse.

"She's fine." She smiled weakly at him. "You can make me drink water if you want to."

He nodded, sitting down and running his hands through his hair.

"McLeish is kind of an asshole, huh?" He mumbled.

"Yeah." She breathed before jumping at the knock on the door.

"Come."

"I was looking for Emily." Jill Anderson from Seth's staff stuck her head in. "Oh good I was right."

"I'm on my way." She whispered, looking back at Aaron. "I'll catch up with you."

He nodded without looking up.

….

"Em-Emily talk to me." She actually flinched when he stepped towards her, Aaron froze in place and stared at her. "Are you investigating me?"

"I'm not at liberty to say."

He stared at her blank face, and for a second his heart stopped in his chest.

"You're not at.." He couldn't catch his breath. "What the hell is happening right now?"

"Aaron, please." She focused on his heaving chest.

"Please?" He squeaked out, she swallowed hard. "Em, I can't-."

He's not sure how he would have finished that sentence; breathe, think, survive this. Instead it remains unfinished when the door opens and his assistant stumbles in.

"Aaron they need you with McLeish." His head snaps towards Josh, his tie undone half slung in his doorway, something determined in him switches on, and something broken off. He looks at Emily.

"That okay with you?" He asks coldly, walking away before her lips even part.


	8. Not welcome anymore

Emily hadn't seen Aaron in five hours. It felt like five days. When she'd finally stumbled home last night it had been to her own apartment. She hadn't there been since the three days after the Capital bombing, when Aaron had taken her there to empty out most of her closet. She'd split the large majority of her wardrobe between his brownstone and the guest room in the East Wing. Much to her annoyance it seemed all of her maternity clothes had made the journey. She had a black elastic band skirt that she had barely pulled on and one of Aaron's shirts that she found on top of her washing machine. Her coat made it look almost presentable but now she was trying to see as few people as possible before she had a chance to get into the East Wing to change into something professional.

She hadn't thought when she'd woken up in Aaron's bed not so long ago that she'd sleep alone again the next time she slept. Not that she slept, she mostly had just started at the ceiling and rehashed every second of the horrible day.

She unbuttoned his shirt, trying to remember how it had ended up at her apartment in need of washing in the first place. She couldn't remember. She looked at the dresser of the East Wing room and at the small framed picture of the two of them Alex had left for her when she'd told her that this was her room, and that she was welcome to use it any time. She wondered if she was the only West Wing Staffer in history to have an East Wing bedroom as she walked down the hallway on her way to Sr. Staff.

"Morning." Seth's voice shook her out of her stupor and she glanced at him lazily.

"Hi."

"Long night?" She couldn't respond, she wouldn't even know where to begin. It didn't matter anyway because the door to Aaron's office flew open and he charged out.

"Morning." Seth repeated. Aaron flashed him a dismissive grimace.

"Is it?" He asked warily. "Wouldn't know. I have a bunch of new marching orders from POTUS but my morning is full so check your inboxes for what each of you needs to do. "

"You talked to him?" She asked weakly.

"About an hour ago. Would you like records of that conversation too? Should I add it to the list or-?" He stopped and shrugged. She pressed her lips together and looked at the floor. "And no I didn't take anything up with him this morning it didn't seem appropriate. Anything else?"

"What's going on?" Seth asked, looking between the two of them.

"I have someplace to be." Aaron quipped, walking between them and disappearing around the corner.

"What the hell is going on?" Seth looked at Emily who swallowed hard before walking away in the opposite direction.

…..

"Emily." Kirkman allowed himself a second to really look at her before putting on his presidential persona, wincing at what he saw.

"You look so much better." She smiled.

" I feel better." He nodded. "Emily I am so sorry."

She looked confused for a moment before the weary sorrow reflected in her face.

"He said he didn't say anything to you." She sunk into the chair next to the bed, dropping the blue briefing folder into his outstretched hand. .

"Mike told me." He exhaled in a huff. " It didn't occur to me that Aaron would be on the list."

"I know Sir." She whispered.

"I should have thought about it. If I would have-."

"Sir, it's fine."

He opened his mouth to say that it wasn't fine, to say that he couldn't imagine what they'd gone through, when he remembered who he was.

"Thanks you. I will take this from here. Agent Ritter has found us someone to oversee this… mess."

Emily nodded, pulling herself from the chair.

"Thank you, Sir." She made her way to the door.

"Emily." He called, his voice as official as if he had called her Ms. Rhodes. "Please keep this discussion confidential."

"Yes Sir."

"We all need to be more careful about who we are sharing information with."

"Sir?"

"The First Lady is not a member of this cabinet." He gave her a strict look and watched her eyes flash.

"Yes Sir." She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry Sir."

"No need to apologize. We're all learning." She turned to leave, looking at his reflection in the door. He looked professional, all business, presidential.

"To-" She swallowed the word. "Sir, you don't think he's-."

Kirkman dropped the folder and pulled his glasses off his face. She watched the reflection watch the back of her head.

"Of course not." He rubbed the bridge of his nose and she pressed her forehead against the door. "But it's a new world now, and until we can prove his innocence I have to be absolutely certain about the people I take into my confidence."

"Yes Sir." She breathed.

"Emily we both need to keep our guard up." He sighed. "Just until we know for sure." .

She would have reminded Tom that she was running out of time. May was right around the corner, and she needed Aaron. She couldn't keep up a guard between them. She had to tell him all the things in her head or none at all, but when she looked back over her shoulder she did not see Tom. The man in the room was President Kirkman and all she could do was excuse herself.

…..

The minute Aaron Shore walked into the room Tom Kirkman regretted everything that he had told Emily Rhodes.

"How are you feeling, Sir?" Aaron asked politely, despite the dark circles underneath this cloudy brown eyes. Tom swallowed back his apology and affixed his President mask.

"I'm feeling much better." He smiled lightly. "Aaron I cannot imagine what the last twenty four hours have been like for you."

Shore's Washington face slipped for just a second and Tom saw a flash of hot anger just before his eyes swept to the floor.

"Well no one shot me." She whispered softly.

"Don't be angry with Emily she was following my orders."

"That's the part that I find troubling, Sir." Aaron scoffed, turning his face away.

"I was encouraged to re-vet my inner circle and I chose Emily to do that because her former position sets her apart from the investigation.

"Sir certainly you can see the multiple problems both political and personal in asking Emily to Vet me.":

"I had no idea you were on the list Aaron." He swallowed. "It was an error on my part. I should have."

Shore nodded, sucking in his bottom lip.

"You more than anyone know I'm learning on the job here."

"You don't think that I-."

"No."

"I mean if you want me to step back-."

"No." Kirkman shook his head. "Aaron I know Emily doesn't believe any of this either."

Aaron swallowed.

"I'm not sure about that Sir." He whispered.

"I hope you understand that she was following orders."

Shore smiled sadly at him for a second before picking up a file from his bag.

"It makes perfect sense Sir. We should talk about work."

"Aaron.."

"A lot has happened."

….

He had been looking for her, but that was not why he'd followed the sound of piano down the hall. The classical piece had called to him, and now the sadness in her face had captured him.

"I didn't even know you could play." He whispered, her eyes jumped to him.

"I was serious about it for a while." She told him quietly. "Now I was just trying to clear my head."

"How'd that work?" He asked softly. She swallowed hard in reply. "I talked to Kirkman."

"Aaron."

"He explained things."

"I couldn't tell you."

"I get that." He breathed back."The part that scares me is that you pulled away."

"It was just a lot." She shook her head. "Seeing you on that list. Thinking about it. Then Kirkman was shot, and Alex was saying things and I couldn't stop thinking about what Kyle said about you being lucky-."

"What Kyle said?" He stopped her. "When?"

"We had coffee in the mess yesterday." She dismissively shook her head.

"You had **coffee** , with **Kyle** and discussed me?"

"I had orange juice. And it was just catch up and he discussed you."

"What did good old Kyle have to say about me being lucky cause I'm not feeling it right now."

"That you came out on top after the Capital."

"On top?" He smirked with a shrug that made Emily hurt. "Sure. I lost everyone I know, my new boss is investigating me and my girlfriend thinks I might be guilty because of something her ex boyfriend said over coffee." He nodded sarcastically. "I see where he's' coming from."

"He was just pointing out that we don't know each other very well." She shook her head in confusion.

"Since when?" Aaron yelled, causing Emily to jump. He winced and swung his gaze to the chandelier, squinting against it's light. "Sorry, I am.. I was trying to find you so I could apologize for being a jerk." He laughed. "Because I was a-. Kyle was right I guess because I didn't know that you played the piano and you didn't know that I'm not capable of treason."

"Aaron." She scolded.

"I guess it never came up." He shrugged.

"Do you think I liked this? It was so scary Aaron and I had no one to talk to about it."

"You had-?" He pressed his eyes tightly shut. "Just the President and Mike, and Mrs. Kirkman, and the sweet little librarianesque lady from the switchboard. Oh and apparently Kyle. I was the one who was alone in the dark wondering why the woman that I want to-." He stopped himself. "Why the mother of my child, was literally flinching away from me, while we were going through the scariest thing that has happened in.. well in this new dystopian paradise, like two weeks.." He tossed his hand in the air. "And I am holding the hand of the still wet from the womb vice president that turns out to be a colossal asshole.."

He couldn't breath again, he tried to take slower breaths, stopping to swallow hard. Emily was watching him, silent despite the tears streaming down her face.

He lifted his palms to her and shook them.

"Lucky me." He squeezed out.

They stood there in silence for a few minutes, her sniffing and him breathing like he'd just run a marathon.

"I'm sorry." He shook his head.

"Aaron." She whispered.

"I keep doing this." He shook his head, drawing in short slow breaths despite his burning lungs. "Just loosing it.. I'm usually so.." He pushed down the lump in his throat. "I'm going to give you your space." He nodded. "I'm going to…" He chucked his head back towards the door before making a swift exit.

"Aaron." She called weakly after him, if he heard her at all, he didn't stop.


	9. Go on now go

**A/N**

 **Just so you know, this is the last 'cannonish' chapter. There will be pieces of the original story line, but we will be going rogue at this point.**  
 **I also want to tell you that I had an entirely different twist than this planned, but the characters in my head insisted this was where we were going.**

 **Poor Aaron.**

* * *

Aaron Shore's phone woke him up about two hours after he'd passed out on top of his bed. He answered it, rubbing his face a few times before sitting up and immediately regretting it.

"Yeah I'm on my way." He managed to get out before lurching towards the bathroom and throwing up the bowl of cereal he had managed to inhale before falling asleep. He pushed his eyes tightly closed and waited for the room to stop spinning. It slowed enough that he could stagger to the sink, and evaluate his reflection in the mirror.

He looked like hell, from what he could see through his bloodshot eyes. His sharp shards of gelled hair were poking out from his pale face making him look like a cartoon villain. Cupped hand fulls of water and splashed them over his face, smoothing his hands over his head, willing his crisped curls back into place.

He hadn't slept six consecutive nights alone since Emily had gone to Manhattan with the Kirkman's for some work event for Alex. He wondered how long it would take him to get used to it. The very thought of it had him back over the toilet, retching.

…..

Emily Rhodes was pretty sure she had couch marks on her face as she drove back to the White House on autopilot. She'd almost gone the wrong way, forgetting that her apartment was South of Dupont, while Aaron's was North. She swallowed hard, reminding herself this was temporary, this was all temporary

…..

"Hey." Emily breathed looking at Seth with a worried glance.

"Damn it." She paused in her march to the Oval, turning back to Aaron who was fussing with his suit jacket. She blinked at him for a few minutes, something was off.

"Hi" He whispered looking up at her for a second. "No Cufflinks." He sighed shaking his head quickly, his eyebrows wrinkling as he did.

"Use paper clips." Seth added helpfully. Aaron looked at him warily. "Seriously, try it."

"In my purse." Emily whispered softly.

"What?" He whispered.

"Your tungsten cufflinks are in my purse from the Governors' Ball." She repeated. "I'll get them." She gestured to the doorway they were approaching. "After."

"Thanks." He whispered softly, moving aside so she could enter the room first.

Seth looked at him skeptically.

"I'll keep the paperclip thing in mind." He appeased.

"You okay?" He asked softly, Aaron gave him a bewildered expression. "You look like shit."

"Thanks?" Aaron smirked.

…..

He made his way slowly to Emily's office, pausing in the doorway to watch her. She reached across the desk, huffing when she had to move sideways to accomidate her baby bump. His face morphed from a smile to a grimace. She turned slightly.

"Hey." She sighed grabbing for her purse. "They're in here somewhere."

"Em."He whispered softly.

"I started a mental list of people in the situation room with us that night. If you want to go over it and see if I-."

"Emily.." He tried a little louder, feeling the room shift under his feet.

How had he screwed up this badly? How had he thought he could trust Kimble Hookstratten? She had seemed to be on their team, and at the time he had desperately needed someone to be on _his_ team. Managing McLeish's erratic behavior had taken a toll. He had been trying desperately to keep the President's opinions in the room as all eyes were on the rouge VP. Kimball seemed to be on his side. _Their side_?

"I know they're in here." She was looking in her purse, or she would have seen the way he had to brace himself against the wall before settling into a chair by the door. When she looked up he had his head in his hands. "Here they-."

He wanted to look up at her, but right now he was trying to hard to keep his stomach from rebelling. Emily crossed the room and quickly closed the door.

"Aaron?"

"I'm-." He let out something between a sigh and a sob before carefully raising his head to face her. "I don't know what to do."

"We're going to figure this out." She shook her head at him.

He scoffed, his uneven breathing becoming even more ragged. She reached out and touched his face with the back of her fingers. He raised his hand up and grasped her wrist for just a moment before pushing it aside and grabbing the trash can beside her desk and heaving into it.

Emily was at his side in a second, her hands fluttering from the nape of his neck to his lower back.

"I can't-."

"Breath." She whispered softly. "Slow breaths."

He wanted to tease her, reminding her of all the times that he had held her hair as she puked her guts out during her first trimester, but he couldn't do more than follow her instructions.

"What's going on?" She led him back to the chair, pulling hers in front of it.

"I have to go." He said suddenly, lurching away from her. Hookstratten, he had to talk to Hookstratten.

…..

Emily's fingers tingled as she walked back from the Oval, she could feel the baby move under her ribs, no doubt reacting to her frantic emotions.

She stopped in front of the door and watched him.

"Hey." She called.

"I made you a list." He gestured to his desk.

"Aaron."

"It's fine." He shook his head. "Curtis is your guy for the Senate, and Jamie is for the House. I met with the NSA today, but you should check in with him later he gets jumpy and needs a lot of attention. Denise has has your back on the-."

"Aaron!" She waited until he had turned around, arching her eyebrows at him. "Are we going to talk about it?" She saw his lip twitch up towards his cheek for just a second.

"I think it's better right now if we don't." He whispered. "You should probably just…"

"Aaron." Her voice was more pleading than she wanted it to be.

"Good Luck." He smiled his million dollar politician smile at her, his eyes hollow and detached. So far from the quivering mess he'd been hours before. She watched him walk away before making his way back to his desk and settling in behind it.

Her hands shook as she pressed them against the cool oak top, her eyes falling on a framed picture of her. He'd taken it in September, just before she realized she was pregnant. Her hair was falling in her face, her perfectly manicured fingers reaching up to brush it away. He'd loved her smile, she remembered him telling her when she'd groaned at the photo. It was unscripted, totally her, that's why he loved it so much.

They'd spent the day on the Mall, acting like tourists. He'd told her he loved her for the first time that day.

Emily let her eyes skim across his desk to her ultrasound photo. Still in the pink cardboard 'It's a girl' frame that they'd brought it home in. There was a small photo of him and some of the other West Wingers from Richmond's era, all of them gone now. All of them but Aaron.

"Hey." She looked up at Seth, standing in the doorway. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Did you see him before he left?"

"Yeah he looks awful. I think this was the right call." Seth took a deep breath and walked all the way in.

"Yeah." She thought about telling Seth about his minor melt down in her office this morning, but stopped short.

"Look Emily I don't know what's going on between the two of you right now, but I know that the most important thing to him is you and the baby." Seth watched her for a second, her lips pressed tightly together. He set a water bottle on the desk. "He left me a case of these. So-."

Emily let her eyes drift shut, feeling the tears slip from the corners. When she opened them again, Wright was gone. She took a drink from the bottle, her hand drifting to her abdomen, moving her fingers over it in long slow strokes.

…..

Aaron shore was fairly certain he was never going to meet his daughter.

He clasped his hands tightly before releasing them again. He stared at the tape, watching the blueprint of the Capital disintegrate into the ground. Langdon was alive, Langdon had reached out to him. Langdon had ordered him to retrieve the document. They were trailing him though, not Langdon. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it. He shouldn't speak, he should get a lawyer. He was going to prison, or Guantanamo, or worse.

He tried to remember the feeling of Emily's fingers on the back of his neck this morning. He tried to hold onto the feeling of the last time he'd pressed his mouth to hers or held his hand against the gentle ripples of his baby's movements.

He met the FBI agents eyes and took a slow steady breath.

"I'll answer whatever questions you need me to."

It was six hours before he was told he was free to go. Just like that.

"It's nothing personal just protocol." Agent Wells tells him. Like she is apologizing for giving him poor customer service at the bank.

"Right. It just feels that way. I mean a whole lot of things make sense to me now that didn't make sense to me yesterday, My President, and the person I thought knew me better than anyone else, think I'm capable of treason."

"These are dangerous times Mr. Shore." Aaron regarded her for a moment., trying to put himself in Emily's place. He couldn't imagine anything that would make him believe that she had done the things he had been suspected of.

…..

Seth hugged him. It felt both awkward and nice.

"How's Emily?"

"Personally?

"No-." He couldn't take personally, not now. "Professionally."

He watched Seth's eyes as he spoke, searching for the proof that this right answer, the only answer. This is how it was supposed to be. This was right. She belonged at Kirkman's side. He trusted her, in a way he was never going to trust him. Kirkman would take care of her.

"Will you do something for me?" He asked, pulling the envelope out of his coat and handing it to the one true ally he had left.

With that, Aaron Shore sealed his fate.

…..

"Were you going to leave without saying anything?"

Aaron paused the pen for a second before finishing relinquishing his credentials. He turned slowly to face her.

"I don't know what to say to you right now." Aaron's voice was low.

"Aaron.." He shook his head.

"I'll call you when I get myself figured out." He looked at her. "You have an appointment next week." She nodded, biting her lip.

"I'll do my best to do this job as well as you did." Her voice shook when she spoke.

"No." He leaned towards her and for a moment she thought he was going to kiss her. "Do it better."

She felt the breeze of the door as he left and she opened her eyes to watch him walk away.

She made her way back to the Oval, slipping through the doors. Kirkman turned to face her, sighing when he saw her face.

"Aaron just left." She whispered.

"I'm sorry Emily." He was Tom for a moment, and she sunk onto the couch across from him and soaked it in. "I let him down."

"We both did." She breathed. "I'm afraid I might have done a little more damage."

"You should talk to him."

"He's not ready. He could barely look at me." He voice broke in the middle of the sentence and Emily lifted her hand to her mouth.

"Well he can't go too far." Tom smiled looking at her middle.

There was a quick knock on the door and before Emily had a chance to disagree Tom was President Kirkman again and the room was full of people who needed her to lead.


	10. I was afraid

**A/N My Semester is pretty much over now, so I will be updating frequently. So if the emails don't start working soon just keep checking in.  
Like I said this wasn't my planned direction but it is the one the characters wanted to go with. Feedback appreciated. **

**...**

Aaron Shore had never been so happy to see anyone in his life. He'd hugged Nadia so fiercely he worried he would hurt her. She moved into his apartment, turning around to face him.

"Unemployment doesn't suite you cousin."

"Yeah, well." He smiled down at the soft white rug. "I apparently needed it. I went on a run this morning I barely made it two blocks and I had to sit on a bench. It's good I'll have more time to get back in shape."

"You don't look well." She shook her head.

"I'll try not to take that personally." He looked around the room. "Make yourself at home while I get ready."

Aaron studied himself in the mirror for a few minutes before getting in the shower. She was right, he didn't look well. He needed more sleep and more food, but he hadn't really been able to accomplish either lately.

Once he'd made sure that his suit was crisp and his hair the proper amount of gelled, he rejoined her in the living room.

"Better?" He called walking into the room with his best grin, she smiled up at him.

"Yes." Nadia admitted, before turning around the frame in her hand. ""Es Emily?" Aaron fought to keep his face from falling, giving her a quick nod.

"Es muy bonita"

"Si ella es." He whispered softly.

"I was hoping we'd be meeting." Aaron turned and started organizing his briefcase before realizing it was nearly empty and he really didn't need it.

"She's got a lot on her plate right now at work." He said smoothly.

"It's a shame you left her to all of it." Nadia studied his reaction.

"She's more than capable I assure you." He gave her a quick grin. "We should go."

…

Emily Rhodes' plans were falling apart. Her nice tidy well researched bipartisan 100 days were in ruins, all from an innocent comment from Alexandra Kirkman.

Her feet hurt, her shoes suddenly felt much too small. She stared at Seth over the easels of poster board and post it notes pushed to the back of the room for this meeting with Director Whitaker. He flashed her an encouraging grin on his way out before holding up his cup to her and gesturing the table before her. The water bottle mocked her as she unscrewed the top and took a drink.

"Are you sure I can't have them get us something stronger than water Ms. Rhodes?" He asked

"No I can't, but thank you." She whispered, wondering if this moron was the only one left in the building that wasn't watching everything she put into her body.

"Not even coffee? Shore loved this little Colombian blend I get directly from the source." He pointed at her plastic bottle. "Even better water than that."

"No, Director Whitaker, thank you but I'm fine." She gripped the bottle possessively. "When I was speaking with him Aaron made it clear that you value frequent contact, but I'm sure you can imagine today is a very busy day for me."

"I do understand, I just want to be sure that you understand it's important that you and I get to know each other. I feel as Director, this happened on my watch." He looked down. "And I don't intend to let it happen again Ms. Rhodes. The relationship between the NSA and the White House is crucial."

"I do understand that Director Whitaker, I promise you."

"Shore and I have been meeting for a meal or at least a coffee almost daily for the last few weeks."

"I'm not sure I can promise you daily Director, but please, have our offices set up a few dates." She smiled an Aaron like smile, catching her assistant in the doorway."If you'll excuse me though I really do need to get back to work."

"Now what?" She whispered as the man left the room.

"There is a woman named Nadia on the phone." Emily shook her head. "She's very insistent. She called your office line directly. She says it's an emergency."

….

Emily raced up the steps of the building as fast as she could, pushing her key impatiently into the door and swinging it open.

"Hello?" She dropped her purse on the table and made her way back to the bedroom. "Nadia?"

"Emily?" The younger woman came into the hallway. "I didn't know who else to call. He thought I was you when I first got here. I don't know what's wrong with him. At first I thought he was drunk but-."

Emily pushed past her and into the bedroom, Aaron was on his side on the bed, she could see his body shake from the door.

"Oh my God." She whispered to herself dropping to her knees in front of the bed and moving her hand across his damp face. "Aaron?" The cool clamminess of his skin made her pull back just a little before she saw the way his eyes tried to open at the sound of her voice.

"I can't-." He whispered between painful gasps, she watched the sweat pool in the divots of his collarbone as his chest seized with each breath. "Something's wrong."

"Call an ambulance." She yelled behind her watching for a second as Nadia scrambled for the phone; her English breaking frantically as she called for help. "Oh my god." She whispered again, letting her hands skim over his bare chest.

"Emily?" She locked their gazes as he struggled to keep his eyes from rolling into the back of his head.

"I'm here." She coaxed. "I'm right here. Stay with me. Aaron just look at me."

…..


	11. Did you think I'd crumble?

Seth made his way into the Oval.

"How is he?" Kirkman asked urgently coming around from behind the desk.

"Not good Sir." Wright sighed. "He's in multiple organ failure. They've gotten him stabilizes for now, but-."

"You saw him?"

"Yes Sir. I let him know we're all thinking about him." He rushed his words out of his mouth. "But Sir the reason I couldn't speak to you on the phone is what they expect the cause of this to be."

Seth watched Kirkman square his shoulders, no doubt waiting to hear about some self inflicted problem, or dumb mistake.

"They are concerned he's been poisoned, Sir." Seth stood still and let reality sink in.

"Poisoned?" Tom's face went pale.

"Yes Sir." Seth whispered softly. "Which means you're at risk. We're all at risk."

…...

Emily, pulled Aaron's jacket more snugly around her, she didn't remember grabbing it. She actually didn't remember much from the apartment after seeing him.

Aaron's cousin Nadia paced outside the room, speaking animated sentences in Spanish into her cell phone.

Emily followed her with her eyes through the big windows until the pacing made her dizzy. She buried her face in the jacket and inhaled. She wish Seth had stayed longer than he had, but she was glad he'd been able to take the information back.

He'd waved her off when she asked who was with the President.

"Like 1000 White House Staffers. Don't worry about it, trust me he was far more concerned with who was here with you." Seth had shaken his head. "How is he?"

He'd sat beside her in the waiting room while they had told her Aaron's prognosis, and what they suspected. He'd gone in to see Aaron, keeping it light and telling him that he'd told him he looked like crap. Aaron despite himself had laughed.

Emily sighed, pulling her legs up onto the little love seat against the windows of ICU room 31. She'd surmised that Seth had passed along the medical team's findings when a team Secret Service agents showed up at the door.

"Hmum." The unintelligible noise called her to jump before she slowly realized it had come from the man beside him. "Emily?"

"I'm right here." She whispered, climbing onto the edge on the bed and laying her hand on his chest.

"Mmm." He put his hand on top of hers. "Did they check you?"

"Yeah." She assured him, extending her arm to show him the band aid "My levels are normal."

"Thank God." His eyes drifted closed and she felt his chest drop as he exhaled. "Seth took this right to Kirkman? There is an FBI agent that needs to be-."

"Aaron, stop." She pleaded. "Seth knows what to do. Just-." Her hand fluttered to his cheek, her fingers carefully tracing over the tubing from the nasal cannula. "Just relax."

"Yeah." He sighed, leaning his head towards her hand. "I just feel so damn-."

"I know." Her soft voice was so understanding he struggled not to let it bring him to his knees. "We're going to get this figured out."

"I missed you." He whispered. "I missed you so much." Emily's eyebrows knit together and she dropped her forehead to his chest. Aaron stroked his hands through her hair, and she felt the warmth of her tears spreading across his hospital gown. His hand slid down her body and he let his thumb glide long strokes across her abdomen.

"Aaron, I'm so sorry." She breathed into him. "I shouldn't have-."

"Don't." He lifted her head back up to face him. "We're not going to worry about that now."

"I missed you too." Emily held his eyes in her, he rubbed his fingers along her scalp before pulling her to him and kissing her forehead. "How do you feel?"

"Tired." He closed his eyes and raised his eyebrows as if to punctuate his statement. "But better than I have in a long time."

"They're pumping you full of drugs." She said softly, ruffling her fingers through his sweaty curls. "It's got to be helpful."

"How do you feel?" He looked back down at the baby. "You've been okay?"

"Seth's been forcing so much water down my throat I think he broke the Geneva Convention." She gave him a 'matter of fact' grin." Aaron smiled back. "I'm pretty sure our daughter is going to be born a mermaid."

"He's a good man." Aaron rasped. She giggled and his face melted into a look of adoration, Emily used her thumb to caress his temple. "Where did Nadia go?"

"She's outside, talking to everyone in the state of Texas." She teased, Aaron made face, and Emily's eyebrows hit her hairline. "In high speed Spanish."

"Oh, God help me." He sighed. "My mother is going to make me say a Novena with her."

"I may have made out a Hail Mary or two." She nodded, he watched his cousin out the window and she relished the feel of his fingertips moving up and down the sleeves of her jacket. She fought the urge to shrug it off so he could touch her skin.

"When do you go back?" He hummed.

"What?" She blinked, waiting for his eyes to turn back toward her.

"I'm sure Josh and Allison are going crazy trying to remap your schedule for today." He continued to look away.

"Aaron." She scoffed, leaning into his line of site. "If you think for one second I am leaving this hospital.."

"Someone has to staff the President." He argued weakly.

"And as Seth pointed out to me today there are over 1000 people in the White House that are currently doing just that." She snipped.

"Someone may be trying to-." She put her fingers over his mouth.

"Someone is always trying to do something." She told him softly. "I'm not leaving this hospital."

Aaron reached his hand up and clasped the one that she had against his lips.

"Okay?" She asked softly, squeezing his hand.

"Okay." His warm voice made her lips twitch up towards her cheeks for just a second.

"Oh, gracias a Dios, te ves mucho mejor." Nadia's voice pierced through the quiet of the room. Emily slipped off the bed as she approached, retreating back to the love seat.

"Me gustaría que dejaras de decirme lo horrible que me veo todo el tiempo. Le da a un chico un complejo." Aaron replied giving her a tight squeeze as she bent to hug him.

"Pensé que iba a tener que explicar a la familia que te dejé morir en mi reloj." She sighed into his shoulder.

"No hoy primo pequeño" He told her softly. "Not today."

"There is a man outside who wants to speak with you." Nadia whispered, Emily shot up from her seat and made her way to the door. Her shoulders sinking in relief when she saw Agent Ritter.

"Are you up to Mike?" She whispered back to Aaron, he nodded before looking back at Nadia.

"Esto puede tardar un rato. Deberías ir a casa. Emily te llamará si ocurre algo más." He whispered to her, kissing her cheek. She smiled and pulled away. "Nadia? Gracias por venir a buscarme. Me salvaste la vida."

"Not on my watch cousin." She smiled back as Mike held the door for her, entering as she left.

"Mr. Shore." Mike whispered.

"Mike." Aaron shifted uncomfortably. "Are we able to speak freely?" Emily didn't like the way his eyes shifted to her when he said that. Mike kept his face straight in wordless answer. Emily watched Aaron's head drop back and look at the ceiling. "Then I don't know why you're here."

"The President asked me to come over to let you know what the next steps-."

"I need to see him." Aaron interrupted, Emily crossed the floor to him.

"Aaron the logistics of getting the President here-." She took his hand in hers.

"Then I have to go to him." He raised his eyebrows and Emily worried he was about to attempt to get up and walk out of the room.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but you're attached to about seven different pieces of equipment right now." She reminded him, she shook her head lightly.

"There are things you don't know." Aaron told her gently. "Things you need to know." His eyes flashed up to Mike. "I need to speak to the President."

…

"Absolutely not." The doctor shook her head at him. "I understand that you are feeling better Mr. Shore, but you are still in critical condition. We don't know what exact toxins you were exposed to. We don't know how or when you were last exposed. You are in multiple organ failure that we are fighting against the clock to turn around." Aaron felt Emily's hand tighten around his. "Leaving the hospital at this time is not an option. You are currently in a fight for your life Mr. Shore. I suggest you leave the Governing to someone else."

He pulled a breath into his painful lungs, shifting uncomfortably. Emily's free hand knotted the blanket on his lap.

"It's imperative we find out who did this." He implored. "Or everyone serving in this Government is as risk of darkening your door, Doctor Pariti."

"And while I understand your predicament Mr. Shore, my current concern is to my current patient. Your are receiving dialysis because your kidneys have shut down. You are currently on a glucose drip because your pancreas is over producing insulin. You are on oxygen and multiple medications due to fluid build up in your heart and lungs. You're electrolytes are currently being carefully measured and controlled by a team of medical professionals on an hour by hour basis. We are also currently concerned that you cannot maintain your body temperature independently. Your body is shutting down Mr. Shore." Emily had started crying at some point in the woman's rant. "I am trying to turn that around."

They sat in the mostly dark room after the medical team had left. Emily's tiny body was nestled on the side of the bed, with her legs across his and her head on his chest. Aaron let his fingers slip through her her brown locks, pressing kissed against her hairline.

They both were up somewhat unpulsed when the door opened, dozens of people had been in and out today. It was only when Emily felt Aaron's chest suck in a surprised breath that she looked up at the man in the baseball cap and jacket.

"Sir." Aaron started as Emily attempted to pull herself up.

"Don't get up." Kirkman put his hand. "Please don't get up." Emily nodded, pulling herself into a seated position. "I hear we need to talk.


	12. I know I'll stay alive

Emily paced the small room wordlessly. It had been two hours since Tom left. She'd paced while Aaron dozed off. She'd paced while she thought about the last two weeks and while the nurse pulled tubes of blood off of his IV and vials of urine from the catheter.

She'd finally sat for a while while the respiratory therapist went through the list of breathing exercises with them. She pressed her head back against the pillowy top of the large recliner they'd brought in for her. Probably in an attempt to keep her from climbing onto the bed. Good luck with that, she thought. They seemed to be worried she'd fall off which Aaron thought was hilarious.

She had pulled herself up again a few minutes ago and was now making a u shaped path around the room.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Aaron asked, reaching out his hand when she got close enough for him to touch. She let her fingers find his before slipping out again.

"I think I'm still processing." She shook her head, before perching on the edge of the recliner.

"I get that." He scoffed, his eyes widening as he smirked at her. She smiled for a second before her mouth slipped back into a thin line.

"Aaron.." She shook her head at him. "I don't even know how to start this conversation." His eyes drifted down to the blanket and he ran his fingers across it removing some invisible particle. "I can't even.."

"I swear to you Emily I didn't know Charlie was alive." He whispered.

Emily's heart felt like it was turning in her body. She took a few quick steps to the bed and lifted his chin up to face her.

"Aaron I know that you had nothing to do with this." She told him, her steely whisper hurting her dry throat. "I know that. I should have never doubted you, not for one second."

"Why did you?" He asked gently, his own hands coming up and tracing lines on her forearms. She shook her head.

"I don't know." His face blurred and she blinked the tears out of her eyes. She saw the look of concern flitter across his face before his thumb lifted to her face and brushed back a tear. "I'm so sorry."

"Come here." He whispered scooting himself towards the rail, making space for her on the bed. She hesitated, until he put gentle pressure on her shoulder blade. "Come here." Emily snuggled back up beside him and he laid his palm on her cheek.

"I left you to face all of this alone." She sniffed.

"Hey now. You had a lot going on your side too." He kissed her forehead. "You should have never been put in that position."

"You're still mad at him." She realized, her hand moving across his chest, fiddling with the lead wires, she listened to the soft hum of the antiembolism devices inflate.

"Emily he should have never assigned you that task." Aaron finally sighed.

"He didn't know you were on the-."

"It doesn't matter." He pulled back carefully, and looked at her. "He should have known, but it doesn't matter." She shook her head at him. "Emily it's not that I don't think that you are capable. You are more than capable, it just is not the job of a Senior Adviser. It's the matter for DOJ, or the FBI or the Secret Service. It is not a matter for Tom Kirkman to dole out to his former aide. No matter how amazing she is."

"He doesn't feel like he can trust them Aaron." She shook her head.

"He sure trusted them when they hauled me into the interrogation room for six hours." Aaron chuckled.

"You can't blame him for being-." She began quickly.

"I can." He told her, his brown eyes pressing into hers. "I can blame him, and that doesn't mean he's not a good President, or a good man, or that he had some malintent. I just means that he messed up. We've both messed up, Em." He shook his head slowly. "Why does he have to be perfect?"

….

"We have the results of the time laps toxicology screen." Mike put the zip drive in the computer and watched Hannah Wells pull it up. "It shows us when Shore was first exposed to the toxins, when he received higher doses, whenever there was a break in exposure. It should help our cause."

"We are going to need to go through Shore's schedule with a fine tooth comb." Wells sighed, leaning back in her chair. "We need a complete record of anything he had to eat or drink and the times that he did so. We need a complete description of every time he hiccuped or sneezed over the last two weeks."

"The senior assistants are meeting with Shore and Emily Rhodes at Walter Reed in the morning." Ritter told her.

"This is how we're going to find the mole in this White House." She narrowed her eyes at the picture of Shore on her computer screen. "Via Aaron Shores leg hairs."

…

Emily watched from the doorway as Aaron poured shakily from the pitcher at the bedside before she moved back into the room.

"Hey. Let me help." She took the cup, spinning the straw towards him. He locked eyes with her before spinning it back in her direction. She smiled at him, shaking her head slowly before taking a drink. "Stop worrying about me."

"I love worrying about you." He winked, watching her eyes squint around the edges. "What?"

"You're lips are blue." She told him flatly.

"What?" He asked absently as the door swung open. Emily watched the nurse stare at the monitor then at Aaron.

"What's going on?" Emily was surprised by the dead calm in her own voice, she felt Aaron's fingers close around hers.

"I'm not sure." The nurse said stiffly pulling an oxygen mask from behind the bed and pulled it over his face, attaching it to the wall and turning up the oxygen. "How's your chest feel."

"The same." Aaron's muffled voice came from under the mask.

"No shortness of breath?"

"The same." He told her again.

"Coughing?" She looked up at Emily.

"I was outside." She shook her head, and the woman looked at Aaron who nodded.

"What's wrong?"

"I think he has a pneumo." She raised the head of the bed up further before pressing the button on the wall. "I need a doctor in here, now."

Emily tried to back up further when the team came into the room but he tightened his grip on her hand.

"Where are we at?" Dr Pariti yelped walking into the room.

"Pulse 110 he's been living around 90 at rest. Respirations are 25 shallow with retractions. He was on 6L Nasal Cannual, I put him on Venturi and kicked him up to 10L. He's still satting in the 80's. I'm diminished on the right side no crackles."

"We need a portable chest." She called out, pressing her own stethoscope to Aaron's chest. .

"They're on their way." Called someone else. Emily's eyes flashed up to the x-ray machine as it rolled into the room. One of the men started adjusting the machine while another handed one of the nurses a led apron.

"Ms. Rhodes." She whispered, pulling Emily away from Aaron and quickly putting the apron on her. "It's to protect the baby. It'll just take a moment." She told her pulling her to the far corner of the room.

"There." The taller of the two men pointed to the screen.

"I need a chest tube set up. Give him some Versed." The Indian woman yelped as the nurse pulled the apron off Emily. "Mr. Shore we are going to put a tube in your chest to drain some of the fluid we were worried about. It's putting too much pressure on your heart and lungs." She told him quickly before moving away.

"I have some medication for you."

"Sedative?" Aaron asked quickly. Emily jumped as the monitor by the bedside started to alarm, a nurse's finger shot up and silenced it.

"Yes. Versed."

"Medical Escort." Aaron reminded attempting to pull the mask away. "I had Yankee White Clearance. I need a medical-."

"We know, Sir." She told him softly, looking up at Emily. "You want me to get one of the agents?"

"No." Emily told her firmly, moving back towards the bed. Aaron's hand found her's again. "I'll stay." She looked into his frightened face. "I'm staying."

…..

Emily hugged Seth when he walked into the private waiting room.

"Hey." He whispered softly. "I'm so glad you called."

"I know you're busy." She breathed from his shoulder.

"Stop it! I just said I'm glad you called." He pulled back, his hand still rubbing her arm. "How is he?"

"Better." She smiled weakly. "They gave him something to make him sleep. They're considering putting him on a ventilator."

Seth's face scrunched up in what she could only assume was a mirror of her own.

"Jesus Emily." He sighed, she nodded biting her lip.

"It's like I forget for a second how sick he is and then something comes crashing in to remind me." She shook her head, before looking up to see Nadia making her way out of the room. "Is he still sleeping?"

The other woman nodded, palming her phone in her hand.

"Did you talk to his mom?"

"She told me to tell you they are praying." She nodded again, and Emily gave her a smile. "They're Mexican. It's what we do."

"Seth, this is Nadia. Aaron's cousin."

"We've met." She smiled.

"Right. You interned last summer." Seth nodded.

"Right." Emily shook her head. "I knew that, you left right around the time Aaron and I started dating. I keep forgetting." She hadn't remembered Nadia's name when her assistant had mentioned the call, or when Nadia had started talking to her frantically when she picked up the phone. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." The young woman smiled at her. "Can I get you anything?"

Emily shook her head no, but Seth looked up at her.

"Can you get her some water?" Emily scoffed somewhere between a laugh and cry.

"You know there is such a thing as being too hydrated." She sniffed.

"Yeah well, I promised." He smiled as Nadia eagerly brought back a cup filled with ice. "Nadia you found him in his apartment?"

"We were supposed to meet for lunch." She whispered, sitting across from them. "He never showed up. I called a few times. He's been sleeping in. I thought he was being lazy. I was going to go over there and kick his butt a little, but when I walked in the door I could tell something was wrong."

Emily's forehead wrinkled in anticipation, remembering what something wrong had looked like.

"At first he thought I was you." She smiled at her cousin's girlfriend. "He kept saying he was sorry." Seth turned and looked at her, her lips quivered against the rim of the cup. "I started speaking Spanish to him, and the things he said became more and more erratic. Things about blueprints and bombings."

Emily opened her mouth to stop her but found that the words wouldn't come.

"Going on and on about how he didn't know about Langdon, and how he promised he wasn't a traitor." Emily made a face. "His breathing was getting more and more unsteady. I thought maybe he was drunk, but after a few minutes it was clear he wasn't well." She stopped and looked at Emily. "He just kept whispering your name. So I told him I would call you."

"When was the last time you saw him?" Seth asked helpfully, watching Emily out of the corner of his eye.

"Three days before that." She said softly. "He took me out to celebrate my new job. He seemed okay, tired maybe. Too quiet, but not like this."

"I noticed it before he left." Seth confessed, turning towards Emily. She looked at him, her large brown eyes taking in his words. "Didn't you?"

She nodded, skimming her lips with her teeth.

"I.. um.." She wanted to tell Seth everything. She wanted to dump it all on the floor in the middle of the hospital waiting room. "I disappointed him." She admitted softly, keeping the White House secrets safe for a little while longer. "We were fighting. I thought he was upset about that, and about what happened with Hookstratten. I didn't think." She pressed her eyes closed and sighed. "I didn't think."

"Emily." Seth soothed. "Josh and Allison will be here in the morning, they're going to go over everything. It's going to be hard. Are you sure that you can handle it?"

"I have to do something useful." She swallowed. "I have to help."

"Yeah." Seth sighed, leaning back in the chair and tossing his arm over her shoulder. "I get that."

….

"Em?" Emily Rhodes blinked her eyes open and slowly stood up slowly from the recliner.

"Hi." She whispered sleepily.

"What time is it?" Aaron tugged the mask from his face to talk to her.

"No, don't do that." She pleaded taking a few quick steps towards him and pressing it back to his face. She glanced at the clock. "Leave it on. It's two am."

"You okay?" He asked her softly, reaching up to touch her face.

"Yes Aaron, I'm fine." She exhaled with a smile, fingering his curls off of his forehead. "I'm fine."

"Okay." Came his muffled response, as he let his fingers fall slowly down her cheek and off her chin to the bed.

"Okay." Emily whispered as his fingers dropped away. She smoothed her hand against the rumples she'd made in the blanket.

"I'm going to be okay." He told her, his eyebrows lifting up.

"Aaron.."

"Ah Ah.. You and I have a date in.. what day is it?"

"March 16th." She whispered.

"You're kidding me?"

"Nope." She breathed.

"We have a date in two months." He finished. "And ten days."

"Baby's don't always come on their due dates you know." She giving him a smirk. "I learned that at the baby doctor."

"Did you, now?" He asked, snaking his hand around her waist.

"Be careful." She told him.

"Come here."

"I'm here." She laughed, lifting up the mask and kissing him sweetly. He rolled his eyes a little when she pressed it back to his face. "You have to be still, the took over a liter of fluid off your lungs today." He made a face at that. "If that chest tube comes out they're going to have to shove another back in."

"Stop." He winced.

"I'm just saying.."

"Holding still it is." He whispered, splaying his palm out over her abdomen. "10 more weeks."

"We need to pick a middle name." She raised her eyebrows at him.

"Yeah?" She watched the way his words fogged up the mask. "You're sure then? About my choice?" She nodded again. "This isn't just a pity thing cause you think I'm going to die is it?"

"Aaron!"

"I'm just saying it's not like you were convinced the last time we talked about this."

"It grew on me." She laughed. "I got used to it, and Nadia and I were talking about it today and I like the way she says it."

"You like her accent more than mine?" He whined.

"I like your accent just fine." She shook her head.

"Mejor, se supone que te encuentras caliente cuando digo cosas en mi lengua materna. Se supone que soy un irresistible latino caliente." The words rumbled through the mask at a speed she couldn't hope to follow.

"I got like two words of that." She teased.

"Were they a good two?" He asked innocently, reaching up and pulling the mask off again. She rewarded him with another short kiss.

"The nurses are all going to rush in here if you keep taking that thing off." She warned, pulling his hand away. She tugged the recliner closer to the bed before reclaiming his hand.

"Maybe my sexy bilinguality will woo them."

"Who said I wasn't wooed?" She giggled.

"Oh I've seen you wooed. That was not wooed."

"How do you say wooed in your mother language?"

"You understood so much more of that then you let on." He chuckled.  
"Cortejado"

"Humm.. Maybe if Nadia said it." She sighed.

"Alright that's enough." He snorted.

"Go to sleep." She called again, tracing circles against the back of his hand.

"Em?" He asked a few minutes later.

"Aaron?" She sighed.

"I love you." His soft voice brought tears to her eyes instantly.

"Yo también te quiero." She breathed into the dark.


	13. How you did me wrong

"I may have made a miscalculation." The man said blankly into the phone.

"What now?"

"Shore." He said simply.

"Shore has proven to be a thorn in our side. You should have finished the job."

"His departure was unexpected. I was unprepared." The man sighed heavily. "There is a bigger problem, it possibly explains why he was more difficult to control then we expected. I didn't realize that since our mission begun his status had changed."

"In what way?"

"Shore was chosen because of his isolation. No family, no friends, nothing outside of his career."

"I understand why Shore was chosen." The man on the phone sighed.

"Well, it seems our research was out of date. From what I hear, Shore's cousin is in DC working for a Congresswoman. He's apparently in a serious relationship."

"Good for him." His conversation partner made a grunting noise. He knew that he was growing impatient.

"The cousin found him near death. His current condition is unknown. The cause of his illness unknown. His girlfriend is now with him at the hospital."

"Your work is sloppy." The man snapped. "But Shore's love life is not of my concern is it?"

"It seems Shore is involved with Emily Rhodes."

The other end of the line went silent for just a moment..

"I have to talk to Lloyd." The irritated reply ended with the line going dead.

…..

"What about Thursday?" Emily Rhodes hissed at her assistant.

"I don't have anything on Thursday except the meeting with the President." Allison said quickly, her colored highlighters zipping across the page.

"I met with Seth, NSA, then Whitiker. Potus and you." Aaron said gently watching Emily roll her neck over her tight shoulders. "You and I will map out the rest of that day, and the next."

"It's a significant day." She told him holding up the toxicology report in it's top secret blue folder.

"Which is why we'll go over it." He told her blinking back into Chief of Staff mode. Emily turned her eyes on him before deflating. He watched her stare at her feet. "We've been at this for two days. I think we need a diversion. Why don't you guys take a break?" Aaron told the assistants, carefully leaning forward in the recliner. "Get something to eat."

"Do you want anything?" Josh asked him as Allison rushed out the door.

"Nope." He pointed to the tube coming out of his nose. "I'm getting all the good stuff directly, but Emily needs something. Allison knows what she'll eat. Something with protein okay?"

Josh nodded, smiling reassuringly at Emily on his way out the door.

"I hate this." She whispered. "I don't want to think about this anymore."

Aaron fumbled with the lever of the chair and started to push himself up, Emily crossed the room quickly but he waved her off, pulling himself up to his full height.

"It's going to be alright." She smiled a little, as he reached over and tucked her hair behind her ear.

"I forget how tall you are." Emily teased. "When you're all upright like this you hardly look like an invalid."

"Yeah well, get out of my way so I can hobble to the bathroom." He pressed his lips to her forehead quickly before dragging his loaded IV pole across the room.

She was staring at the charts when he walked back in. He came up behind her, running his hand down her back.

"I don't want to think about these days, Aaron."

"Let's get this done." He prompted, sitting carefully on the bed, she helped him swing his feet up before sliding on the edge, holding the blue file.

"This is the list of possible symptoms Seth, Nadia and I noticed." He took it from her, glancing over the time line. Some of it surprised him, he hadn't realized any of it as symptoms at the time. It had just been a slow unraveling. He swallowed hard, his eyes skimming over the page.

"Wow." Aaron blew out a quick breath. Emily took out the multi colored highlighters, looking down at her paper.

"Here is when your labs show a reaction to the toxin." She highlighted some of the places in yellow, then reached for the orange. "Here is the peak time, when you received the highest dose. Then these are the parts that don't make any sense." She looked at him, grabbing a pink highlighter. "Two more smaller exposures."

"How could I have been exposed after I was out of the White House?" He asked shaking his head. She looked at him, her bottom lip raw from her teeth before lowering her head to his shoulder. Aaron's fingers unconsciously threaded into her hair, rubbing the her skull. She brought her hand up and gripped at the fabric of his t-shirt. "You okay?"

"This is my fault." She whispered.

"Did you poison me?" He quipped, leaning his head back to look at her. She made a scoffing sound, rolling her eyes before settling back into his chest. "I mean I knew you were mad but-."

"Stop." She groaned. "If I hadn't been so wrapped up in my delusional thinking-. I would have been with you and I would have noticed something sooner."

"Em." Aaron dropped his hand away. "I'm glad you weren't there. Obviously this is something that I came into contact with at work and the apartment. What if you had been exposed to it too?"

"You almost died Aaron!" She reminded.

"I didn't." He said softly.

"You could have." She protested.

"I didn't." He repeated.

"Stop being so calm about this!" She snapped. "Tom almost died. You almost died. I can't-. I'm not sure I can take much more of this! And here you are, calm as calm can be."

Aaron reached across her taking a blue highlighter from the pack. He went back to the timeline, finding the point where he'd found her after she'd gotten the list.

"Here I felt like something was off." He highlighted it in blue before moving to the after the shooting. "Right here I felt like I couldn't quite get a grasp on something. Here I felt like everything I was trying to protect and hold onto was starting to come unwound." He underlined the morning of the Hookstratten leak, before moving onto his time with the FBI. "I thought I was going to Gitmo." He moved onto his resignation, making a thick blue line. "I thought it was over."

"Aaron your career is not-." She shook her head.

"Emily, I'm not talking about my career." He rushed out the words, sat up a little turning to look at him. "I love working in the White House. I loved working for Kirkman, helping him piecemeal this government back together." He smiled wistfully, she brushed her fingers across his cheek. "But working with you-." He squinted his eyes, smiling almost lustily. "I love working with you, I loved your optimism. I love how damn stubborn you are when you believe in something and how clever-. Damn, you're so clever. I loved working with you Em, because I love you." She smiled, her teeth slipping out from behind her rose colored lips. "I love you, Emily. I knew I'd lost the job, but I thought I'd lost you. But now you're here, and we're together. The rest of it is all just stuff to get through."

Emily slipped off the bed, turning to face him laying her palm on his cheek before she kissed him. He kissed her back for a minute before pulling away and pressing his head to hers.

"I'm gonna need the oxygen back on if you keep-." He told her breathlessly.

"I know." She giggled, stroking his cheek. "I know."

"It's going to be okay." She nodded tucking her head under his chin. "This is one of those things where you come out on the other side stronger." She nodded again and he pressed a kiss on the top of her head.

The door cracked open and Allison moved into the room, setting a lunch tray on the table.

"I got chicken salad." She called softly as Emily disconnected herself from Aaron and moved across the room. "And some fruit."

"Thank you." She whispered. "Allison, I'm sorry, about before."

"No big deal." Her assistant wrinkled her face at her and shook her head with a smile.

Josh opened the door, his ear pressed against the phone.

"Emily, POTUS needs to see you back a the White House." Emily stood up quickly.

"Josh let them know she'll be heading over as soon as she can." Aaron called firmly, turning back to Emily. "Eat." He raised his eyebrows. "You need to eat." Emily nodded at him, slipping back into the chair.

….

"Look at you." Nadia called slyly from the doorway as Aaron stood carefully by the bed.

"Yeah look at me. Standing like a big boy." He sighed.

"Better than the last time I saw you cousin." She rolled her eyes. "One thing at a time."

"Yeah." He whispered, easing himself back to the bed.

"Emily said they'd taken you off the oxygen." She scrunched up her eyes and looked at the tubing.

"I have to stay above 90. I didn't do that during PT." He fingered the tubing. "They'll take it off later." He pointed to the chair in front of him and Nadia slid into it. "Emily call you?"

"She doesn't like it when you're here alone." Nadia's voice was low. "Ella se preocupa. Ella es muy protectora."

"Ella tiene miedo." Aaron swallowed hard at the admission.

"¿No somos todos?" She blinked at him, her face slack and unemotional.

"Sí, pero no todos nos sentimos responsables. No todos internalizamos todo como Emily." Aaron listened to the measured tone of his own words. He wondered if stoicism under pressure was a family trait or something learned in politics. He thought about his wild mexican aunts and his expressive mother and decided it was the latter. "Emily piensa que el mundo es innatamente bueno, y que es nuestro trabajo, su trabajo. Para asegurar que oscila de esa manera."

"And you cousin?" Nadia's eyes betrayed her. "What do you think about our world?"

"I think that the world is both good and evil, and it is our job to protect the good." He whispered.

"Like Emily's optimism?" Nadia smiled.

"Some days." He smiled back. "Most days i just want to protect her." He sighed looking up at the ceiling. "Y no creo que pueda hacer eso ahora mismo."

"Me dijiste que era fuerte y he visto que tenías razón. Creo que lo que ella necesita de ti ahora mismo para saber que no tiene que ser dura cuando está contigo."

"Maybe."

"And maybe you should try not being so strong when you are with her." Nadia counseled.

"When did you become the smart one?" He teased, smirking at his little cousin.

"I learned from the best." She smiled back.

...

"I'm sorry it took me so long." Emily was already remorseful as she slipped into the room.

"It's okay." Tom smiled at her. "Seth and I were just going over the VP selection."

"You've chosen?"

"Almost. I wanted to put out some feelers about it."

"I'm going to see about an Op ed." Seth said softly. "Pitch it to some of our more friendly publications."

"Anyone going to tell me who?" She smiled, watching the worry lines on Seth's mouth gradually appear. She frowned turning to Kirkman.

"Kimble Hookstratten." The President said proudly. Emily blinked.

"Hookstratten?" She whispered, her voice airy. Seth shifted his weight from one leg to another.

"Kimble has intimate knowledge of the difficulties we've had-."

"I'm sure she does but the question is, can she keep them to herself?" Emily didn't even realize she was speaking until she saw the look on Kirkman's face. She took a step back, lowering her self off of her toes and adding a weakly. "Sir."

"Emily, I trust her. I assure you that Kimble thought she was doing the right thing when-."

"When she betrayed Aaron's confidence?" She said quickly, shaking her head.

"Emily." Seth's voice was soft, but full of warning.

"No." She turned to him. "There are things you don't know."

"Seth can you leave us alone for a minute?" The President's voice was calm and even, but it did nothing to stop the swell of anger and injustice that was pushing through Emily's body right now.

"Yes Sir." Emily stared at her boss until the door closed.

"I know this may be upsetting for you, but what Aaron did was not Kimble Hookstratten's fault. He acted on his own accord."

"While he was slowly being poisoned to death." Emily's voice sounded icey even to her. "And after finding out he was under investigation. That I was investigating him."

Tom Kirkman gave her a sympathetic gaze before turning to contemplate what she was saying. Emily felt dizzy. She wanted to scream. She wanted to run from the room.

"Emily I am so sorry-."

"We set him up." She whispered her lips trembling. "You set him up. I set him up!"

"Em."

"And then someone in this building fed him poison." She laughed bitterly. "And then Kimble Hookstratten hung him out to dry." She stopped swallowing hard. "And you call me from his bedside in the ICU to tell me you want to reward her with the Vice Presidency because you trust her." She shook her head. "You should have trusted Aaron."

Kirkman stared at her for a moment, her hand rested on her abdomen, tears pooling in her eyes.

"I should have trusted Aaron." She asserted in a breathless whisper. "But I was stupidly waiting for you to tell me that I could."

"Emily I don't know what to say."

She nodded, reaching up to wipe her eyes.

"I'll help Seth get something organized for Hookstratten." She swallowed hard. "Then I think I'm going to go back to the Hospital if that's alright with you, Sir."

He nodded back at her before she quickly left the room, almost bumping into Seth in the hallway.

"You okay?"

"Well I'm probably going to get fired but yeah." She muttered.

"I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to warn you about Hookstratten."

"It's okay. It's probably better that I had my little freak out in the Oval." She swallowed. "Aaron doesn't need this right now. We should work on your press release."

"I got this. Whitaker must have seen you come in because he's camped out in front of your office. It's been almost a week since you've checked in."

"This has been the longest week of my life." Emily growled, pressing her palm carefully against each of her damp eyes. "You don't think I'm completely out of line about this Hookstratten thing do you?"

"Not completely." Seth told her. "And I apparently don't know the half of it."

"It makes your job easier." She called as she started down the opposite hallway.

"You sound like Aaron." He called back and she smiled.

"Ms. Rhodes." Jay Whitaker stood outside her office.

"I'm sorry it's been so long, Director. I've been out of the office." She smiled.

"I heard about Shore. I hope he's doing well." The other man's monotoned voice followed her as she made her way into her office.

"He's doing much better thank you." She turned and sat at her desk. "I'll let him know you were thinking about him."

"Did the ever figure out the cause? If you don't mind my asking, of course." He sat down in her visitor's chair.

"Virus of some kind." She lied with ease. "It hit him especially hard."

"Well, he had been working quite a lot."

"Yes Sir." She smiled. "Is there anything in particular you needed to go through with me?"

"I wanted to check in with you about the meeting with the Saudi Ambassador, go over just a few things."

"Of course." She tried to keep from sighing.

"Would you like something to eat or drink?" He looked at her. "I can have my assistant bring us over some colombian coffee or tea from my special supply."

"No thank you, Sir." She smiled. "Why don't you tell me your concerns about the Saudi visit so I can get them to the President as soon as possible?"

….

"Hey." Aaron whispered when she walked into the room. "Everything okay?"

He watched her face flash in alarm when she saw the oxygen.

"What happened?" She dropped her purse and briefcase on the table and started over to him.

"Nothing it's two liters. I'm fine." He waved her off. "It's fine. How was POTUS."

"He's fine." She sighed, making her way over to the bed. "I would have been back earlier but i got trapped by Whitaker."

"Ug."

"He sends his best."

"God just tell me he didn't send any of his damn 'special blend'." Aaron laughed. "That stuff tastes like tar."

"He's been trying to shove it down my throat." She laughed.

"The first few times I had it I actually enjoyed it, but God, he must have been making it stronger because it became intolerable." Aaron shook his head. "I swear maybe that's why he always has that look on his face like he's tasted something bitter."

"Yeah well. He's obsessed." She smiled, settling on the edge of the bed and opening the her briefing book. Aaron looked at the wall, the wheels turning in his head.

"Em?" He called softly a few minutes later.

"Yeah."

"He sent a bag to the house."

"What?" She looked up at him, half interested in what he was saying.

"Get the chart." He continued to stare at the wall, her eyes widened and she slid off the bed and grabbed the chart, pulling the bedside table over to him. He pointed his finger at the places where he'd met with Whitaker, watching them align with the lab spikes. He pulled out his pen, holding it over first two times. "In the Conference room, after McLesh was acting President. He was there." He took a long slow breath. "In the situation room." He pointed to another highlighted space. "He was there."

"Did you eat or drink-?"

"You know how it is, you're in the moment and someone hands you coffee and you drink it." He shook his head before his eyes widened. "Tell me you didn't drink anything today when he-."

"No." She put her hand on his. "Nothing."

He pulled their joined hands to the last two minor exposures.

"He sent the fucking coffee beans to the house." He said softly.

Emily picked up the phone and dialed.

"I need to speak to Agent Ritter, right away."

...


	14. I've got all my love to give

"Hey." Aaron's face broke into a grin when Seth appeared in the doorway.

"Hey?" The Press secretary shook his head. "I just got a month's worth of shocking stories in about twenty minutes, man. All you have to say is Hey?"

"Look I'm the one who got poisoned, so-." He turned his palms towards the ceiling.

"Yeah I guess you win." Seth relented.

"Did you see it?" Aaron raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yes." He sighed.

"I wish I could have been there." Aaron rolled his eyes, looking back at his friend. "I can think of a few things I would have liked to say to Director Whitaker."

"I'm pretty sure Emily said them." Seth smirked, tilting his head to the side, eyebrows perfectly arched.

"That's my girl." Aaron chuckled

"I thought Kirkman was going to have to haul her off of him for a minute there." Aaron chuckled again and Seth sunk into the chair beside the bed. "How you doing?"

"Been better." Aaron shrugged. "Been worse."

"What are the doctors saying?" Seth pushed, leaning forward. Aaron met his big eyes and shrugged again.

"They don't know. They know for sure now it was Ricin. They found it in the coffee beans. They expected that, so it doesn't really change anything as far as treatment goes. Not like there's an antidote they can give me that'll fix everything."

"So it's just wait and see?"

"Yeah. Kinda." Aaron scrubbed his hands over his face. "It's frustrating. With everything, POTUS and Emily's due date's getting closer, and still not really knowing anything."

"Like I told Emily, POTUS is fine. The White House is fine, and as good as she is at your job, we can survive without her for a while." Seth grinned.

"Thanks."

"Be nice to have you back though." Seth looked down his nose at Aaron.

"Yeah, well." He gestured to the tubes that encircled him.

"I mean don't get me wrong, she's great. And like extraordinarily better looking-."

"Okay I get it." Aaron laughed.

"But the two of you together made one damn good COS." He raised his eyebrows, punctuating the point. "And you are unemployed."

"One hurdle at a time." Aaron smiled.

"Where is she anyway? She left before me."

"She's at the baby doc-." Aaron stopped himself, his tongue darting into his cheek as he smirked. "Obstetrician."

Seth snickered, before both of their heads turned towards the door as Dr. Patini entered the room.

"Mr. Shore." She pressed her lips together. She looked at Seth.

"I can step out." Wright said quickly.

"It's okay." Aaron's hand splayed out towards him, the Press Secretary sat back down. "He can stay."

"We need to talk about your heart." The doctor told him bluntly.

"That can't be good." His voice raised at the end, he turned towards Seth, watching the other man's adam's apple bob.

…...

"You didn't have to do this." Emily said softly, picking a piece of lint off the hospital gown. She turned her head to look at Alex Kirkman.

"Come on." The first lady smiled back. "This is awesome, and Aaron was very adamant you were not going alone."

"He loves these appointments." Emily smiled with a mix of huff and sigh.

"You don't?" Alex asked, her blonde head turning slightly to the left.

"I don't have time for them." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "I never felt like I had time to leave work for them, and now with Aaron in the hospital. They want me to come every two weeks." She rubbed her face. "I just want to get back there. You know?"

"I do." Alex gave her a pointed nod.

"Exactly, you wouldn't have wanted to leave Tom's side for anything." She ran her hands across her forehead, moving off the strands of hair that were sticking there.

"Except my kids." Alex said softly.

"Well of cour-." She stopped mid sentence, her hand, resting against her forehead as she contemplated what the First Lady had meant by that. "Yeah." She looked away from her before looking back with a small smile. "Yeah."

"With all that's going on I'm sure it's hard to really absorb what's happening." Alex leaned in, touching Emily's arm. "But that's what this is, you're taking care of your child."

…..

"Hi." Emily whispered making her way back into Aaron's hospital room.

"Hey, everything good?" He was groggy, pushing himself up onto his elbow, she pressed her lips together. "Em? Is everything-."

"Fine." She shook her head. "I'm just.." She shook her head as she crossed the room, and leaned her hip against the side of the bed. His fingers brushed across her cheek as she leaned down to kiss him. His hand came to rest on her abdomen, drawing his fingers out and in a few times.

"I'm sorry I missed it." He never looked up from her bump. Emily wondered which of them he was apologizing to her or the baby. She slipped her hand on top of his.

"She forgives you." Emily whispered. "Not every little girl has the first lady come to her prenatal visit."

"That's true." He laughed, before his face slipped back to neutral. "We need to talk."

"So I guess Seth told you about Whitaker? How I almost ripped his face off?" She grimaced. "I'm sorry I know I told you I'd stay calm. Trust me, I tried, but-."

"Emily." Aaron's voice was thick as he looked up at her. "You should sit." She slid into the chair, her senses tingling. "My cardiac tests came back."

"And." She asked airily.

"It's not getting any better, Em." He told her gently, rubbing his thumb against her palm. Emily pushed her teeth into her lip to stop the tremble. "Dr. Patini consulted with the Cardiologist."

"They want to do the thing?" Emily finished.

"Tomorrow." His smile was so serene it almost lulled her. She nodded at him, swallowing against the tightness in her throat.

"Okay." Her voice broke, and he brought his large hand up and cupped the back of her head, his fingers sinking into her hair and pressing against her skull. Her shoulders heaved for a second before she began to sob. Aaron pulled her towards him, she let him press his lips against her forehead before she dropped her face into the bed.

"Shhh.. It's going to be alright." He moved back in the bed, carefully moving the wires and tubing to the top of the bed. "Come here." She scrambled onto the bed and into his arms. "It's going to be okay. I'll be okay."

…..

"They'll sedate him, insert the device into his thigh, and run it up to his heart. They machine will inflate and deflate his heart with the right amount of pressure."

"For how long?" Kirkman asked breathlessly, the army physician shook her head.

"There is no specific requirements or limits, Sir." She explained. "They'll do it until they feel his heart has had adequate rest."

"The doctor said they'd keep him unconscious at first?" Seth piped up from the sofa.

"Yes. Dr. Patini and Dr. Shell, the cardiologist, felt that it would be in Aaron's best interest to keep him in an induced comatose state for a while."

"Best for Aaron." Seth nodded, looking at Kirkman. "Not necessarily best for Emily."

"Yeah." Kirkman rubbed his face.

"He wants to see you, Sir." Seth added softly.

"Yeah." He said again softly. "I'll call Mike."

…..

"Aaron." Kirkman stood in the door in his blue ball cap, looking a mess.

"Sir, sorry if I don't get up." Aaron grinned at him lazily, gesturing to Emily's unconscious body draped over his own.

"Aaron I-." He shook his head.

"This isn't your fault, Sir." Aaron stopped him. "This all started before you were a twinkle in Whitaker's eye."

"She disagrees." Tom pointed his head at Emily, settling into the chair at the bedside.

"She's having a hard time right now." He sighed, brushing a hand through her hair.

"She blames me" Kirkman whispered.

"She blames herself." Aaron shot back, he held Kirkman's eyes. "She's so busy trying to prove herself that it gets in the way of what's really important."

"Alex is worried that she's feeling apathetic about the baby." Tom mumbled, his head bobbing in agreement.

"That's part of the reason I asked you here." Shore's face went slack, he looked at his former boss. "I may not come back from this."

"Aaron, Dr. James assured me that this procedure has become almost routine."

"A month ago, before this happened? Absolutely. Now?" The man's brown eyes squinted, and his mouth scrunched into a tight line. "Not a single organ is working at full strength. I'm weak." He swallowed. "I'm-. This is a risky procedure for me it's why their inducing the coma." Aaron swallowed. "If I don't come out of it, I need to know that you'll be there for Emily and our daughter. Not as her boss, but as her family."

"Of course." Kirkman's throat was tight, as the word rasped out.

"She'll be a real pain the ass. She'll try and quit." He smiled as the coarse sentence ended with a gulp. "Don't let her." The President nodded. "She'll need help. I gave Seth some names." Tom rubbed his face with his hands and nodded again. "If I do come out of it okay, I'd like to be the person to help her. I'd like to come back to work, Sir."

When the President looked up again Aaron was looking down. He moved his hands through Emily's hair, and the other across her thigh.

"Aaron?"

"You were right, I was angry." He exhaled slowly. "At you. At Emily. At myself."

"Aaron."

"Everything was unraveling." He breathed slowly. "I acted recklessly and I would und-."

"Aaron I have a recent opening of Special Adviser to the President." Kirkman interrupted. "It requires working closely with my Chief of Staff. Her boyfriend seems to think she's kind of a pain in the ass."

"I'll do my best, Sir." He smiled down at Emily.

"I've been told the two of you together make a pretty great COS."

"By Seth?" Shore chuckled.

"Not just by Seth."

…...

"Promise me you'll take care of yourself." Aaron whispered, moving his thumb across her tearful face.

"I'll drink the water." She breathed, her voice choppy.

"And eat, and sleep." He gave her a long look. "You have to sleep, Em."

"I'll try." She turned her face into his palm.

"Nadia's going to stay with you at the apartment. I made her promise to not let you stay here for hours on end so don't get angry at her." He kissed her hairline.

"I won't." She murmured as he looked over his shoulder, smiling at Seth as he slipped through the door.

"Took you long enough." Aaron sighed.

"Sorry. It took me a minute to find everything, your place is a mess. " Wright shot back setting the bag on the table. "Half of DC's law enforcement agencies have been through it."

"Yeah. I'm gonna work on that this week." Emily sniffed. "Since I've been banned." Aaron kissed her face again. "Why didn't you tell me you needed something?"

"That's my cue." Seth extended his fist to Aaron who bumped his against it. "Good luck." He pointed at his friend. "Have a nice rest. I'll see you soon."

"Count on it." Aaron said back softly. He reached his free hand out, pulling out his phone speaker from the bag and hooking it up to his iPhone. He took out a well folded tablecloth, opening it half way and laying it over the beside table.

"What are you doing?" He grinned at her, reaching back into the bag and pulled out a small candle and lighter. He raised an eyebrow at her while he lit it. "You can't do that in here. You have oxygen on!" She hissed. He rolled his eyes pushed the candle further away from him. Aaron pressed the button on his phone his eyes holding hers as Elvis started singing 'I can't help falling in love with you.' Emily started to cry again. "You hate Elvis."

"I love you." He shrugged.

"I love you." She repeated.

"I was going to do this weeks ago, but you fell asleep." He chuckled. "Then there was the whole shooting, treason, poisoning thing."

"Minor details." She smiled at him.

"I would ask you to dance with me but-." He gestured at her. "In your current condition, I'm not sure you should be on your feet."

"I'm very fragile." She told him flatly, with a raised eyebrow.

"You're very beautiful." He said softly, slipping his hand back to her cheek. "I picked this song because it's perfect for us." He reached back into the bag. "I'm hoping we can dance to it at our wedding." Emily's lips parted slightly when he opened the ring box. "This isn't exactly how I wanted this to go, but I wasn't going into this thing without you knowing that I wanted to marry you. " He beamed at her. "Like.. Yesterday."

Emily blinked at the ring before lifting her gaze to Aaron.

"Emily Rhodes It was absolutely impossible for me to help falling in love with you." He shook his head, grinning at her until she giggled. "Will you marry me?" Her lips pressed tightly together as she nodded, her eyes blurring. "Is that a yes?"

"Yes." She breathed, nodding again. He nodded at her, pressing his lips into hers. "Yes, Aaron." Emily sighed, and Aaron squeezed his eyes shut and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I'll marry you."

…...

Nadia rapped her knuckles against the door as she cracked it open, the nurses were busying themselves around the room as Aaron and Emily spoke quietly to each other. Her heart hurt as watched her cousin push his girlfriend's unkempt hair off of her damp face, his soft worried eyes glancing up to see her in the doorway.

"Give us just a minute." He was telling her evenly. "Call Seth and give him an update?"

Emily nodded before standing and turning to face her. Nadia couldn't help reach for her and Emily surprised her by leaning into her arms. The woman hugged her tightly before letting her slip from the room.

"Todo está allí". Aaron gruñó, señalando una pila de papeles. "Hay cartas y una unidad zip con videos, todos los papeles legales están ahí también" She nodded, crossing the room and picking up the papers and bringing them to Aaron's bedside. "Tengo uno más".

"¿Dormiste en toda la noche primo?" She teased, leaning in and kissing his cheek.

"I'll get plenty of sleep here in a minute." He sighed. Nadia watched him pull out the final envelope, taking a minute to trace his finger over his daughter's name." Nadia swallowed, slipping it into the envelope and then into her bag. "Enseñarle español. No deje que la familia la viste con esos horribles vestidos étnicos con el encaje rosa."

"You will teach her Spanish, cousin." Nadia whispered, holding his hand. "And I cannot promise on the lace." Aaron gave her a small smile.

"Hoy hablé con mi mamá. Por primera vez en mucho tiempo." He whispered.

"She told me." Nadia confessed.

"I figured she would." He smiled. "You've always been closer to her then me. It's what you get when you leave the family."

"No hagas eso. Ella está increíblemente orgullosa de ti." She squeezed his hand, and he nodded.

"She tell you that Emily said yes?"

"There was no question Emily was going to say yes." Nadia shook her head. "She did though, she's excited to meet her, and her new grandchild."

Aaron nodded again, raising his face back to the door and looking at Emily sheepishly standing there.

"I'll leave you to it." Nadia smiled, hugging him tightly. "I'll see you soon." Aaron nodded, holding onto her hand until her fingers slipped from his. "I'll be out here." She whispered to the woman at the door. Emily nodded as Aaron's eyes pulled back to her as the door closed. His girlfriend wiped his eyes with the pads of her thumbs, pressing a kiss to his lips.

"The anesthetist will be here in a few minutes." One of the nurses told them, laying her hand on Emily's shoulder. Aaron watched her nod.

"There is so much I want to say." He whispered.

"You can tell me later." She told him firmly.

"Em.." He closed his eyes.

"No." She shook her head. "You had your chance to get out of this." His eyes slipped open, and he squinted at her. "I told you that you didn't have to be involved months ago. It's too late to change your mind. You're helping me raise this baby." She continued to shake her head. "You said you'd marry me and I am going to hold you to that." His lips lifted towards his cheeks and he nodded, sniffing back his tears. Emily pressed her forehead into his. "You have no choice. You're going to be a husband and a father and that's it."

"If you say so." He sighed, wrapping his arms around her and burrowing his face in her shoulder. "You're my boss now."

"Aaron, I've been your boss since the day we met." She laughed. "And I'm pretty confident I will be until your little princess comes along."

Aaron's hands slipped down to her middle and he spread his palms across it.

"President not Princess right? Isn't that what that onsie Seth got her decided?"

"He can manage her campaign." Emily laughed.

"It's time, Mr. Shore." One of the nurses whispered.

Aaron nodded, leaning back on the bed. Emily held his hand in hers, leaving the other against his abdomen as the anesthetist explained what he was doing. Aaron nodded curtly in response, his eyes holding Emily's. She mouthed that she loved him as the sedation began making it's way through the IV. As the man moved back, Emily slipped her fingers through his hair as he struggled to keep his eyes on her.

"Can you count back from ten?" Someone asked. He made it to seven, at what should have been four, Emily kissed his still face and made her way into the hall and into Seth's arms as he hurried through the door of the waiting room.

The nurse let Nadia know that they would keep them posted over the sound of Emily's sobs as Seth finally gave up trying to hold her up and dropped them both onto the nearby sofa. Nadia put her hand over her lips and nodded in reply.

...

 **Here's a translation of Nadia and Aaron's conversation. I know I could just write it in English and say they were speaking Spanish but I like using my limited skills and then google translate to see how wrong I was. Lol. I also like the authenticity.**

"Everything is there." Aaron grunted, pointing to a pile of papers. "There are letters and a zip drive with videos, all the legal papers are there as well" She nodded, crossing the room and picking up the papers and bringing them to Aaron's bedside. "I have one more."

"Did you sleep at all last night cousin?" She teased, leaning in and kissing his cheek.

"I'll get plenty of sleep here in a minute." He sighed. Nadia watched him pull out the final envelope, taking a minute to trace his finger over his daughter's name." Nadia swallowed, slipping it into the envelope and then into her bag." Teach her Spanish. Do not let the family dress her in those horrible ethnic dresses with pink lace. "

"You will teach her Spanish, cousin." Nadia whispered, holding his hand. "And I can not promise on the lace." Aaron gave her a small smile. "I talked to my mom today, for the first time in a long time." He whispered. "She told me." Nadia confessed. "I figured she would." He smiled. "You've always been closer to her then me. It's what you get when you leave the family." "Do not do that. She's incredibly proud of you." She squeezed his hand, and he nodded.


	15. I know how to love

Emily leaned her head back against the recliner watching the slow and steady rise and fall of Aaron's chest. If she thought there had been a lot of tubes and wires before she had been mistaken. There were twice as many now. She closed her eyes, rocking in time to the hum of the ventilator, remembering.

 _"Mr. Shore." Her eyes shifted away from the man in the room, she tried to look irritated._

 _"Ms. Rhodes." His voice was high, somewhere between interested and mocking. "Should I get an agent or are you able to control yourself today?"_

 _"I don't know?" She turned back towards him. "Are you planning on insulting the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development today?"_

 _"No." He raised a perfect eyebrow. "I would never do that in public."_

 _"Just in the hallway of the West Wing?"_

 _"I work in the hallways of the West Wing Ms. Rhodes. It was basically a water cooler conversation with a coworker." He pulled at his tie before handing her a cup of coffee."Peace offering?" She eyed him suspiciously. "Cream. Two sweet and lows"_

 _"How do you know how I take my coffee?" She shook her head at him, snatching the cup."_

 _"I vetted your boss." He blinked at her._

 _"And his staffer's coffee choice was something that needed to be vetted?"_

 _"I asked your assistant." He chucked his thumb over his shoulder towards where Allison had exited with a shrug. "It's going to be a long day. I don't want to be looking over my shoulder the whole time wondering if you're about to jump me."_

 _Emily annoyingly found herself liking the idea of jumping Aaron Shore._

 _"Thank you." She whispered taking a sip. "I still don't understand why we have to stay in here." She glanced out into the lobby, trying to spot anything out of the window. "My forementioned assistant just left a few minutes ago."_

 _"All I know is when the Secret Service says to do something I tend to obey." He sighed, taking a sip of his own coffee. She deflated._

 _"Maybe I can convince the Secret Service to get you to take a look at the idea of economically diverse housing near Detroit's public transit routes." She arched her own eyebrow at him, wondering if she saw more than the hint of a smile on his face._

 _"You can try." Shore shrugged. "But they tend not to have a lot of opinions."_

 _"What about you Mr. Shore." She rolled her eyes at her. "Do you have opinions?"_

 _"Sure." He shrugged again, dropping into a chair at the table they were next to. "My opinion is you should call me Aaron."_

 _"Aaron?" She made a face._

 _"Yes." He picked a piece of donut off the plate on the table next to them. "It's my name."_

 _"I know that." Emily spat._

 _"Can I call you Emily?" He blinked._

 _"Emily?" She made a face at him._

 _"It's your name." The look he gave her almost made her laugh._

 _"I'm aware." She smirked. "What is going on here?"_

 _He took a deep breath and blew it out dramatically._

 _"I actually hate being called Mr. Shore. I would like for you to call me Aaron." He gestured to his chest. "And since you'll hopefully be calling me by my first name I think it would be weird for me to call you Ms. Rhodes."_

 _"That would be weird."_

 _"So I can call you Emily?" He smiled and she felt something flutter in her chest. Dear God did he have to be so sexy?_

 _"You can call me Emily." She relented._

 _"Great." He looked back at the folder he had opened. "You want to yell at me about Detroit some more?"_

 _"I don't yell."_

"Emily?" She stopped rocking, her eyes drifting open again.

"Time to go?" She swallowed hard, when Nadia smiled. "Okay." She looked down at Aaron for a minute before finding a relatively clear spot to kiss. "They say anything else?" She looked at his cousin.

"No." Nadia reached her hand out and touched Aaron's foot. "Everything is still good. He's doing well."

Emily nodded back following Nadia out the door.

….

Seth watched her pace the length of the living room, cell phone pressed to her ear.

"Uh huh. So that's good right? That's what we wanted?" She nodded to the wall. "Okay. Okay thank you please keep me posted."

It was the same intensity she used at work, tenacity with just an edge of irritation, like it bothered her that she even had to ask the questions, but she was too nice to let that show.

"He's holding his own." She told Seth, with a nod.

"That's good." Seth whispered unsure of what exactly one says in this situation. "Come eat." He gestured to her forgotten chicken and she shook her head before dropping into the chair. "The baby needs food." She begrudgingly complied.

"Did he give you a script or something?" She eyeballed him, passive aggressively eating chicken.

"That would have been helpful, but no. He just let me know you'd probably be a pain in the ass and I shouldn't take it personally." He raised his eyebrow when he spoke, lifting his own glass to his lips, as Emily's shoulders drooped.

"Sorry." She muttered remorsefully before another bite.

"Meh." He shrugged. "I'm the press secretary I'm kinda used to it."

"Hey what happened with you and that reporter?" She asked, her eyes widening.

"No go." He leaned back in his chair. "She was flirting with me to get what she wanted from me."

"So." She shrugged. "Before we were dating I used to flirt with Aaron all the time to get what I wanted from him."

"Yeah well, the stakes are higher in my line of work I guess. All the sleight of hand that goes into dealing with reporters. I mean you had to keep things from Aaron, how did that work out for you?"

"Well, my boyfriend is currently in a coma.. So." She rolled her eyes and pointed her empty her fork at him before stabbing another piece of chicken.

"I think you might be stretching a little." Seth put up his thumb and pointer finger about an inch apart, one eye squinting shut as he looked at it. "But I see your narrative."

"What did people say when Aaron and I started dating?" She asked absently. "Was it scandalous?"

"Sure, more because Aaron Shore was doing something besides his job." Seth's shoulders lifted and fell. "And they thought you were out of his league."

"What?" Emily laughed. "Seriously? What about my reputation in DC led them to that gem?"

"You're surprised?" He was astonished.

"Yes. Aaron was the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President. I was some girl from Housing!" Seth watched her eat, silently congratulating himself on his victory.

"I don't know. Aaron just never really did anything but work. He didn't date, or socialize or leave his office." She blinked at him, her head tilting on it's axis. "Then all the sudden he's dating this smart funny beautiful girl from HUD. Then like ten minutes later he's gonna be a dad and he's leaving the office at six and he's smiling. It was a switch." She grinned for a second before her eyes softened.

"It wasn't sudden." She told him. "He pursued me the same way he pursues votes on a bill or support for the President. Relentlessly. Calmly. Like he's already won. He basically informed me we were going to be together. "

"His confidence astounds me." Seth laughed. Emily smiled.

"Yeah until it's shaken. Then he broods." Her mouth slipped into a grin as her head shook slowly.

"He doesn't." Seth scoffed.

"Oh my God. He hides away and scrutinizes every detail trying to figure out what he could have done better or faster." She took a drink from the glass in her hand. "It's ugly."

"Sounds fun to be around."

"Ah." Emily shrugged. "I usually just take off my clothes." Seth choked on his drink, his eyes closing over his apple cheeks.

"I'm sure that's phenomenally effective and I need a girlfriend." He joked.

"What about Nadia?" Emily asked innocently.

"My boss's cousin?" He tilted his head towards her. "Are you mad?"

"I'm your boss." She shrugged. "Aaron is just a perspective coworker."

"Well then." Seth's sarcasm dripped out of his lips with a smirk. "Sign me up."

"Seth." Emily snorted.

"She is clearly out of my league."

"That's not true." She grinned widely.

"She's a six foot tall mexican goddess." Wright almost shouted at her. She laughed out loud. "Besides I don't think I'm even in the same ballpark as her type."

"What's her type then?" Emily tilted her head and looked at him skeptically.

"Molly Acermen from Internal Affairs?" He pursed his lips at her.

"Oh." Emily furrowed her brow. "Yeah Molly is way hotter than you."

"Yes." Seth nodded, looking up sheepishly as the door opened and the woman and question strode in holding a grocery bag. "Oh hey."

"Hi." She smiled at him and then turned to Emily. "Did you check in?"

"Yes. He's okay." Rhodes smiled.

"Good. We have a busy afternoon." She smiled.

"We do?" Emily's voice was blank. Seth couldn't help but grin.

"We do." She began pulling things out of the bag and putting them away in the kitchen. "We're going to work on the Nursery."

"No." Emily said quickly. "I'm waiting for Aaron."

"He thought you might say that." Nadia sighed, reaching in her bag and pulling out an envelope. She handed it to Seth who quickly passed it to Emily. She looked at Aaron's swirling script on the front of the letter. She remembered how she'd complained it was nicer than her own. He'd called her sexist. The envelope said simply 'when she complains about the nursery' She swallowed back the emotion threatening to overwhelm her as she read the short note. Nadia turned to her when she was finished, smoothing her hand over Emily's shoulder. "Okay?"

"Okay." She repeated back to her. Seth's eyebrows hit his hairline, he looked from Nadia to Emily.

"Okay then. I hear there are boxes of furniture I'm supposed to try and put together." He drained his glass and then made his way back to the bedroom. Nadia patted her shoulder once before lifting it away. Emily followed Seth, Nadia looked down at the note.

 **Don't be angry, I asked Seth and Nadia to help. The baby needs a room. We're running out of time, and when I get back home the two of us won't be in any condition to do it anyway. We'll lay on the couch and watch movies instead. I'll let you pick. I can't wait to see it. I love you. -A**

….

Emily sat in the surprisingly stable glider in the middle of what was now actually a nursery. It had taken six hours, but Seth had meticulously assembled a crib, the glider and a changing table with almost perfection. She smiled, looking around before closing her eyes.

 _"So is Isis out there right now or-?" Emily huffed looking towards the doors._

 _"Will you calm down?" Aaron Shore shook his head before turning back to meet her irritated face. "Do you have someplace to be?"_

 _"I have work to do." She balked._

 _"We all have work to do." He countered. "Similar to the Secret Service agents currently doing there job by holding us in here."_

 _She lowered her shoulders and gave him a look._

 _"Yeah." She sighed._

 _"Is this your first lock down?" He asked softly._

 _"No. There was one at the Capital last year, but it wasn't hours long." She muttered._

 _"Yeah well, they can be. From what my assistant says it's some armed counter protest. Better safe than sorry kinda thing." He held the text up to her before setting it down. "Don't worry."_

 _"I'm not worried." She shot back, her teeth scraping against her already raw lip._

 _"Fine. Let's play a game." He offered, her eyes scrunched suspiciously._

 _"A game?" She countered, watching him shrug noncommittally._

 _"It's something to do." He shrugged again, she rolled her eyes. "Never mind. Sit in silence and stare at your folder."_

 _"Fine, what kind of game?" She asked with a huff_

 _"Five card?" He smiled._

 _"You have cards?" She raised an eyebrow at him._

 _"No." He said flatly, she giggled. "I was hoping you might." She snorted. "How bout Pop trivia?" He shook his phone from side to side._

 _"The wifi is awful in here it'll kick us off."_

 _"Come on." He raised his eyebrows at her. "I know where the booster is."_

 _He stuck his hand out to her, she eyed him suspiciously._

 _"You any good?" She quipped, he shrugged noncommittally before she let him pull her up and lead her out of the room._

"There you are." Nadia's voice brought her back to the present once again, she blinked up at her.

"Hey." She smiled at her absently. "Sorry I was spacing. Did I tell you how much I appreciate all you guys did? It looks amazing in here."

"It does." Nadia turned slowly taking in the room.

"He left you a to do list?" She said softly.

"Something like that." Nadia smiled.

"What else is on it?"

"A trip to the White House tomorrow." She rolled her eyes. "The First Lady insisted on lunch with her. Allison has a few people for you to meet with."

"The people Aaron had Seth call in?" Nadia nodded, moving across the room and brushing her hands across a stuffed animal. "It's from his childhood. Do you remember it?"

"He was a teenager before I have many memories. I remember it being on his bed in his room." She continued to pet the fuzzy salamander. "I remember one night he was babysitting and there was a storm. He gave it to me to hold. He said it always made him feel safe."

"What was teenage Aaron like?" Emily whispered.

"A lot like adult Aaron. All bravado. All heart." Her boyfriend's cousin picked up the toy and settled on the floor of the nursery. "He was the quiet one in our large Mexican household of loud latina women." Emily smiled and she blushed. "God I sound like a stereotype, but it was just like you might imagine."

"His family isn't something he talks about much." She hummed.

"It's hard for him." Nadia folded one long leg over the other. "Leaving was hard for him. He felt responsible, to be the 'man of the house' so to speak." Emily nodded, she'd gotten that from what little he had said. "But there was nothing for him there. Maybe marry some loud latina and have a bunch of babies. No jobs for college graduates, maybe immigration law." She swallowed hard. "Aaron was meant for bigger things. My tia, she understood this, but still it was hard to send him so far from home."

"I can imagine." Emily ran her teeth along her upper lip.

"What about your family? Were they sad to see you move all the way to DC?"

"No." She shook her head. "I don't come from a close family. You grow up, you get a good education and then you go out and make your mark. You aren't supposed to stick around. You're supposed to achieve." Nadia's eyes softened. "No time for weakness. You have to be better, stronger, tougher."

"Sounds exhausting." Aaron's cousin observed.

"It is." Her voice was airy and lost.

"Are you hungry?" She stood up from the floor in one graceful step that made Emily feel like a bowling ball with legs."We can grab dinner before we stop by the hospital."

"You can tell me embarrassing stories about teenage Aaron." Emily told her forcing a smile.

"I'm saving the good ones for the wedding." Nadia teased.

….

She lay on her side looking out the window of Aaron's bedroom, her hand slowly petting the stuffed salamander she'd smuggled out of the nursery. Her visit to the hospital had been bittersweet. All she had wanted to do was wake him up and talk to him, it had been more lonely in that room then it had been at home. Emily closed her eyes and buried her face in the comforters soft familiar smell, thinking about the first time she'd smelled it.

 _"Regina George." She whispered, leaning towards his phone. Her cheek brushed up against his shoulder and she could smell his cologne. She wondered what it was. "Gretchen Wiener.."_

 _"What was the guys name?"_

 _"Aaron." She snorted. "Duhh."_

 _"Not him! I did him. The other guy." His voice was urgent and focused. "We're running out of time."_

 _"Damien." She said quickly. "It was Damien." She watched his fingers fly across the touch screen, hitting enter triumphantly before his time ended. She tried and failed not to sniff him._

 _"Bam!" He cheered. "We beat them." He pointed to the score. "You rock at this."_

 _She giggled, resting her head against his shoulder for a moment. He turned his head and she felt dizzy, his lip mere inches from hers._

 _"You better now?"_

 _"Yeah." She smiled. "I was doing my best not to seem worried out there."_

 _"You know no one believed you when you said you weren't worried, right?" He teased, his eyes flickering to her lips._

 _"Oh people believed me." She raised her eyebrows._

 _"Not me." She didn't know which one of them leaned in, but she knew that he was about to kiss her and she was about to let him._

 _"I have a boyfriend." She said suddenly, Aaron froze. He looked at her face. "I'm sorry I shouldn't-."_

 _"No it's okay. I just thought-."_

 _"It wasn't just you." She closed her eyes for a second before opening them. "I mean-."_

 _"It's okay." He looked back at his phone and she pulled away from him, closing her eyes as they rolled into the back of her head. She missed the warmth, and his musky scent. Oh dear god she was falling for this guy. Hard._

 _"I have a boyfriend." She repeated as if it was an explanation, almost an apology. She found herself wanting to tell him everything._

 _"Not for long." He told her confidently._

 _Emily's mouth opened slightly and she tried to be outraged. All she could summon was mild amusement and the realization he was right._

 _"Gabby24 has challenged us." He told her with a smirk. "Wanna wipe the floor with her?"_

 _All she could do was nod in return._


	16. I spent so many nights

Aaron Shore was vaguely aware that he was asleep. It was a feeling that had, at first scared the shit out of him, but now he was getting used to it. It kind of felt like swimming, sounds muted as you dove under the water and only become clearer when you approach the surface.

He was currently as deep as he could go, and in those depths he'd found Emily.

….

 _She'd been watching him all morning and he knew it, he moved around the meeting room. He'd been trying not to let it distract him. This Cabinet meeting was important, his mission to make Emily Rhodes fall madly in love with him would have to wait for another day._

 _"Hey there big shot how's it going?" Aaron turned around, his face breaking into a grin._

 _"Damn is it good to see you." He whispered to Mae Yoshita. "If my arms weren't full I'd hug you right now."_

 _"Then put your stuff down!" She raised her eyebrows playfully._

 _"How are things at the State Department?" He moved all of the papers to one arm and gave her a gentle squeeze._

 _"They are not as awesome as they are here, I'm sure."_

 _"When are you getting yourself back to the Hill?" He asked, his eyebrows raising._

 _"I put out some feelers for the next election cycle, but I don't think Representative Kinsign is serious about not running, so.."_

 _"So why aren't you on her staff?" He coached._

 _"I'm not a staffer Aaron, you know that." She sighed. "I'm just sorry we couldn't draw you to the dark side."_

 _"I'm career Mae. You know that about me."_

 _"Shame. With that face you were made for elected office!" She squeezed his cheek between her thumb and folded forefinger. He pulled back with a laugh. She leaned forward, whispering in his ear. "That cute little brunette you were pretending not to stare at earlier is looking at me like I've stolen her puppy."_

 _He grinned at her as she pulled back._

 _"Friend of yours?" She raised her eyebrows._

 _"She's the HUD's COS."_

 _"She's cute, Aaron."_

 _"Is she?" He raised an eyebrow. "Hadn't noticed."_

 _"Uh huh." Mae shook her head. "So how long have you two been sleeping together?"_

 _"Wow. Cut the chase huh?" He felt the red heat rush to his face. "We are neither currently, nor have we previously slept together."_

 _"Sure you don't want to be in Congress? That was a congressional answer." She teased._

 _"I'm sure." He laughed._

 _"Real story?" Mae waited._

 _"What? She's with HUD, we've met a few times she's great. I'd love to get to know her better, but she's got a long term, live in boyfriend so.." He shrugged, leaving out the fact that he knew about the long term live in parts because he'd asked around._

 _"That's weird." Mae smiled slightly._

 _"Why?" He made face. "Love in Washington is rare, but I have heard rumors it exists."_

 _"No it's just weird because I heard her saying she just started subletting a place." Yoshita tossed her long dark hair over her other shoulder. "First time living alone."_

 _Aaron knew his mouth was hanging open but there was little to nothing he could do to get it to close again._

 _Mae reached over and pushed his chin up._

 _"Don't say I never gave you anything." She pressed her lips to his cheek. "Oh she looks pissed."_

 _Mae giggled as she walked away._

…

"I changed my mind." Emily whispered, looking at the door before her.

"What? Why?" Seth's face screwed up and his hand came to rest on her arm.

"I shouldn't be here. I should be at the hospital with Aaron." She shook her head. "I can't do this."

"Em, It's just Sr. Staff. We'll be in and out in a half an hour tops." He said softly. "Then we'll go back to your office and talk to a few of the prospective staffers."

She was still frozen in place, her heels dug into the carpet.

"Seth I can't." She turned her head to look at him, and he stared back at her. "Guess Aaron forgot to write up a little pep talk for this one, huh?" She breathed, pressing her lips together to keep from losing it. Seth's eyes never left hers as he pulled her over to one of the leather benches and had her sit. He reached in his pocket and handed her an envelope.

'When she doesn't want to go back to work' Her eyes slipped shut for a second. Seth ignored the tears in them when she looked back up.

"I'll wait for you in there." He pointed to the Oval, she nodded her head.

 **You can do this. No one is expecting you to be perfect. No one is expecting anything from you besides walking through the door. Seth's probably in there. He has your back. POTUS isn't mad. He feels guilty. He doesn't realize you're feeling enough of that for all of us. You can do this. I love you -A**

"You can do this." She whispered, swallowing hard and taking a deep breath. "You can do this."

She slipped in the door silently. The left side of Seth's mouth rose when he saw her, moving to make room for her on the sofa.

"Emily." Kirkman said gently. "I'm so glad you could join us."

"Me too, Sir." She smiled back.

….

 _"Hi." Aaron reached out his hand, coffee cup dangling. He'd waited until she was in a small side office alone, happily dodging the irritated looks she was shooting both him and Mae when she thought no one was looking._

 _"Is this your shtick now?" She said tightly._

 _"Maybe. Is it working?" He tilted his head to the left, extending the cup further. She took it from him, giving him a long look._

 _"Depends." She raised her eyebrows. "Do you have something different for each Cabinet member's staff? Do you bring donuts to the Education guy or make eggs and bacon for the hottie from State?"_

 _And there it was. Aaron held his face as neutral as he could before raising his eyebrows slowly._

 _"Yoshita's a vegetarian." He said evenly. "I have been told that I make a mean egg white and spinach omelette though."_

 _"I bet you have." She snapped back. "I have work to do." She set the coffee down on the desk and went to grab her bag. Aaron, wrapped his hand around her wrist, when she looked back up at him their faces were inches apart._

 _"I've known her since I got to DC. We worked in the mailroom together. I never played PopTrivia with her in the EOB coat closet and I've never even almost kissed her." He told her quickly before pulling back a little. "Heard you got a new place."_

 _He waited for the longest ten seconds of his life until her stunned look morphed into a shy smile. She nodded wordlessly._

 _"Can I take you to lunch, Emily?"_

…

"Emily!" Congresswoman Mae Yoshita came around the table and hugged her. "You look adorable." She said as they parted.

"Thanks." She ran her hands over her mid-line.

"Nadia's been keeping me updated on Aaron." She wrapped her fingers around Emily's upper arm. "He's going to be fine. He's tough as they come."

"Thank you for saying that." Emily tried to sound like she meant it. She wasn't sure what exactly she was supposed to answer to those kinds of comments.

"Seriously. People let the gel and suits fool them, he's a fighter." She smiled. "I'll go get Nadia."

Emily nodded again, dropping into a chair by the desk.

"Hi, how was the West Wing?" Nadia asked as she hurried out the door.

"It was good." She smiled back.

"Seth texted me, he said you were great today." Aaron's cousin pulled her purse and coat from a nearby closet.

"It was a shaky start, but I think I finished strong." Emily explained while they walked back to the car.

"And the staffers?" Emily groaned and Nadia laughed.

"Only two of them will work at all. I swear, Aaron must have been oxygen deprived when he made that list." She shook her head. "Seriously."

"Well that's two people you didn't have before right?" Nadia asked as they got in the car.

"I guess, but it won't get both of us through the ten weeks of parental leave that we want."

Emily smiled a little as she pulled up in front of her old building.

"Is it weird being here?" Nadia turned to look at her.

"It's been just over a month, but God it feels like forever ago." She smiled looking back at Nadia. "I'm glad it still worked for you. I know you're arrival wasn't how we planned."

"It all worked out. I got to know some of my new coworkers. Very, very well." Her eyes widened.

"Sharing a bathroom will do that." Emily grimaced.

"Let's just say I was happy to move into your place." Emily stopped, gesturing for Nadia to unlock the door.

"It's your place now." She reminded her following her in. "We'll just get my stuff out of the way."

They spent the next hour gathering up the rest of her things. Nadia insisted on carrying the boxes to the car herself. Emily was secretly relieved. It was only when Nadia went to take a shower and change before they stopped at the hospital that she found the envelope full of letters from Aaron. One thin stack marked 'Cosas que podría necesitar' and another thicker envelope marked 'Por si no vuelvo.'

…..

 _"Should we get in?" Aaron asked her, raising his eyes towards the reflecting pool._

 _"Depends, do you like working at the White House?" Emily laughed, pulling him down beside her on an open bench._

 _"I have connections with the capitol police. It'll be fine." He teased, and she laughed louder. He reached out his hand and pushed her hair from her face. "I missed you."_

 _She gave him a lopsided grin before his lips pressed into hers._

 _"It was only a week." She whispered._

 _"Yeah, don't do that again." He scrunched up his face._

 _"I'd have thought you'd be glad to not have to have another episode of 'Talk Emily down off the ledge.'" She rolled her eyes._

 _"My favorite show." He shrugged, running his fingertips up her bare arms. "Em?" She turned towards him. "I mean it."_

 _"That I'm your favorite show?" She smirked._

 _"That I missed you. I really-." He pressed his lips together. "I love talking you down. I love reminding you how amazing you are. I want you with me." ._

 _"I want to be with you." She breathed._

 _"I'm-." Aaron nodded, his eyebrows furrowed to portray his seriousness, despite his lips fighting back a smile. "I'm in love with you."_

 _The air in Emily's lungs huffed out in surprise._

 _"You're-."_

 _"In love with you." He repeated with another nod. "Hopelessly, ridiculously, somewhat pathetically in love with you."_

 _She smiled that smile, the one that lit up her whole face. He molded his mouth to hers until he couldn't live without breathing any more. Her hand came up and around his shoulders to hold him to her._

 _"While we're confessing, I was miserable without you and I love you too." He could feel her breath on his face, he pressed his lips between her eyes and then to her forehead._

 _"Can we go to your place now?" She asked innocently._

 _"Absolutely."_

….

"What does 'vuelvo' mean?" Emily whispered when Nadia returned to the living room.

The other woman stopped in her tracks, looking at the piles.

"Return." She told her sitting down on what used to be Emily's sofa and looking at her.

"If I don't return?" She asked holding up the stack.

"Something like that." Nadia moved across the room, sitting down at the table across from her.

"He wrote me letters in case he died." It wasn't a question. Each letter was labeled in English. "When the baby is born. When you hate your job. When you meet someone." She tearfully moved her hands through the letters. "He wrote her letters." Her lips trembled. "He wrote our baby letters."

Nadia smiled sadly, reaching across the table and laying her hand on Emily's.

"He wanted to be there for you." She explained softly. "And for her."

…

 _Aaron Shore was in heaven, or at least how he pictured it to be. The empty beach lay out before him and the oceans lapped against the edges with a soul resting woosh. He heard Emily laughing, and he turned to her squinting against the sun to find her stretched out on the damp sand._

 _"Lucy!" She called, her voice still sparkling with leftover joy. "Lucy come here!"_

 _Aaron focused on the little golden blur that raced its way up the beach before falling into Emily's arms. She pushed the dark curls off her tan skin as she lathered on more sunscreen. Aaron watched with vague familiarity as it was both the hundredth and the first time he'd seen the ritual performed._

 _"Daddy take me in!" The little cherub squealed at him, as mouth stretched into a smile._

 _"Luciana hold still!" Emily scolded with a giggle, still rubbing long strokes of sunscreen down her legs._

 _"When Mommy is done." Aaron told her patiently walking closer._

 _"In! In!" Lucy jumped._

 _"Aaron it has to dry." Emily told him sharply as he lifted the little girl into his arms, he reached his hand down to her and she let him pull her up to him, he tucked his arm around her waist and pulled her close before kissing her lips._

 _Lucy clasped Emily's face in her chubby hands. Aaron could feel his heartbeat in his chest. strong and steady. The water hit the shore and then retreated, hit and retreat hit and retreat._

 _"Aaron?" Emily watched his eyes on the horizon. "Aaron?"_

He listened to the sounds around him fade until only her voice and the woosh remained.

"Aaron?" She repeated softly, with a hint of fear behind it. "Aaron can you hear me? Can you open your eyes?"

He could do both, he realized as he blinked the beach away, finding Emily's worried face and a crowded hospital room in it's place.

"Hi." She smiled weakly, her hand coming up and smoothing back his hair. "Welcome back."


	17. And now you back from outer space

"Em?" His voice startled her when it broke through the silent room.

"I'm here." She called, trying to slow her breathing. Emily lowered the footrest of the recliner and pulled herself up to the bed. His eyes blinked up into the darkness. She ran the back of her hand across his cheek.

"Hi." He whispered softly, his hand coming up and grasping hers. He'd been in and out all day, slowly coming off of the VAD, then out of sedation, then they'd taken him off the vent.

"Hi." She smiled back. He'd been confused, and despite everyone's assurance that it was completely normal it had left the both of them a mess.

"You okay?" He asked predictably.

"Mm-hum" She murmured, stroking his face. "Everything's okay. It worked, your echo was great."

"How long?" He wrinkled his eyebrows. "How long was I under?"

"Five days." She bit the edge of her lip, and Aaron winced.

"Sorry." He breathed, she smiled wistfully.

"I got your letters." Her voice trembled and a slow smile spread across his face.

"I saw her, Em." He told her. "I saw Lucy." Emily grinned back at him. His eyes drifted shut again and she resisted the urge to tell him to stay awake. "She was so pretty. Just like her mom." She pressed her lips to his forehead. "You were right about the curls."

He hummed as she nuzzled her cheek against his, Aaron's fingertips brushing through her hair.

"I love you." She sighed.

"Me too."

…

"Hey look who it is!" Aaron called as the Press Secretary walked in the door.

"So I hear you're getting sprung tomorrow?" Seth stuck out his fist and Shore completed the action.

"That's what they tell me." Her shook his head. "It's crazy man."

"Emily's freaking out. I think she's had the appartment steam cleaned."

"Yeah, she's worried I'm going inhale one contaminated breath and drop dead." He rolled his eyes eyes before letting them drift shut. "She's been through a lot."

"You both have." Wright reminded him. Aaron shrugged his shoulder and Seth shook his head.

"How's everything at work?" The former Chief of Staff asked neutrally.

"When are you coming back, again?" The Press Secretary squeaked.

"At least another week. Probably two." He winced. "Sorry man, you're going to have to keep holding things together for a little longer."

"Yeah. Then you'll be back just in time to have a baby and leave again." He laughed. "It's gonna be great."

"Our virtual Sr. Staff this morning went well, it seems like things are starting to come along. The agenda's taking shape." He pulled the file from the table next to the chair he was parked in. "How are things coming on the VP selection?"

"We'll it's been pretty stalled since Emily went ballistic over his first pick." Seth's eyebrows rose. Aaron furrowed his own brow in confusion. "She didn't tell you?"

"No." He shook his head.

"He wants Hookstratten." Wright watched Aaron consider it, his eyes tracking the room until his face became calm and he nodded his head.

"She's a solid choice. It screams bipartisan. Kimble's in the know about a lot of the things we're working on. She's got the experience for sure. She'll be the first female VP, that's amazing." Shore's shoulders shrugged again. "What was Emily's problem?"

"Mostly that Kimble threw you under the bus with Abe Leonard." Seth puffed out his cheeks and made a popping noise at the end of the sentence. Aaron took a deep breath before rubbing his hand over his face as he let it out.

"I'll talk to her." He told his coworker softly.

"While you're at it do you think you could get her to reconsider Julie Smith and Maura Ballwin?" He asked quietly. "I'm not sure what they did to incur her wrath, but they are both really qualified and experienced and we need that right now."

"She passed on both?" The surprise in his voice was evident.

"She only took Kennedy Kodack and Jeff Hill. Begrudgingly, under my and Debbie's strong push." Seth shook his head. "I'm just saying she's hard to impress." He gave Aaron a once over. "I guess not that hard."

"I'll talk to her." Shore laughed, swatting Wright with his file.

"I'm glad you're back in the land of the living."

"What so I can be your go between?" The other man snorted.

"Mainly? Yes." He teased.

….

"Okay." She wrestled with the car door and then turned back towards him. "Here let me get that."

"I have it." He sighed, holding onto the bag as he lumbered out of the car.

"It's heavy." She protested in irritation.

"Which is exactly why I have it." Aaron told her firmly pulling the duffle up to his shoulder and pulling himself to his full height. "See. All good." Emily glanced at him nervously, until he brought his hand up and brushed his fingers down her arm. "I'm okay."

"I know." She said absently, shaking her head as she pulled back from him. "Let's get you inside." She turned towards the steps, Aaron watched her for a second before following after her with a sigh.

The steps seemed longer than he remembered, and he was glad she seemed to have slowed as much as he had. He was also pleased to find himself unwinded when he made it to the door.

Emily fumbled with the lock and he brought his hand down over hers, grasping the key and turning it in the lock. He could feel her body react to him, relaxing into his chest for just a second; but it ended as fast as it began.

"Thanks." She whispered pushing the door open. He set his bag near the door and looked around his apartment. "Does it look the same as when you left?"

"I don't really remember leaving." He shrugged, watching her eyes cloud over just a little."But it looks the way I expected it to. Cleaner."

"I had everything cleaned." She looked around the room before pointing to the white faux fur rug on the floor. "Do you know how hard it was to find someone who could clean this damn thing? If you didn't love it so much I'd have burned it instead."

"You would not." He made a face. "You love this thing. Hell, Lucy may or maynot have been conceived on this thing."

"Stop." Emily's breath clicked out of her, her eyes scanning the room for something to do. Aaron reached for her, his large fingers encircling her wrist. "What?"

"Nothing." He said quietly, pulling her closer.

"Aaron." She protested. "I should make lunch. You can't take your medicine on an empty-."

"Shh. Shh." He pulled a little harder until she begrudgingly moved towards him. "Just stop for a minute."

"What?" She repeated, little a little less irritation. He dropped to the couch and pulled her down with him, wincing a little at the soreness in his thigh. "You're going to hurt yourself." She scolded.

"It's okay." He murmured, pulling her tightly into his arms. He rested his head on top of hers. "It's just sore."

"You had stitches."

"They took them out." He mumbled into her hair. "It's just a bruise."

"It's not just a bruise, it's an incision into the artery that goes into your heart." She told him sharply.

"It's okay." He soothed, pressing a kiss to the side of her head. "I'm okay."

"I'm just-."

"Em." He whispered, close to her ear. "We're okay." He felt her body relax slightly into him again. "It's okay." She knotted her hand her hands against sleeve, and he kissed her head again. "Everything is going to be okay."

"Don't say that." She shook her head, leaning back fully into his arms. "You can't promise that, don't say that."

Shore pressed his eyes shut and held her tighter, silently wondering how much damage had actually been done.

….

"No es que podamos cancelar la cosa entera." Nadia looked at him like he was insane.

"Solo estoy preocupado." Aaron sighed, passing two plates across the table to his cousin.

"Creo que estás exagerando, que ha tenido unas duras semanas." Nadia pointed a fork at him, waving it. Shore shook his head before sticking a spoon in the veggie dish in the center of the table.

"¿Ha hablado contigo sobre Lucy, sobre el embarazo, algo de eso?" He raised his eyebrows, Nadia bit her lip, before looking down at the beans she was stirring.

"No." She arched an eyebrow of her own.

"¿Ver?" He tapped the table top.

"Eso no significa nada, ella tiene mucho en mente." Her voice sounded soothing and apologetic. It made Aaron's stomach feel sick for a moment.

"He estado tratando de recordar, cuando dejó de hablar de ella, como si de verdad hubiera dejado de hablar de ella." He swallowed hard. He knew when, the day the capital became a pile of rocks and dust.

"Ha pasado por muchas cosas." Nadia started slicing a tomato.

"Demasiado." Aaron sighed.

"Okay if the two of you are going to talk in Spanish all afternoon I'm going into work." Emily huffed, walking back into the room. Nadia gave her a sheepish smile and Aaron leaned over the table and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"English only from here on out." He promised popping a piece of tomato in his mouth. "I was talking to Seth, in English by the way, and he said I could hang out with him tomorrow while during your meeting, so there is no reason for me not to come."

"The doctor said two weeks."

"I won't work." Aaron held up his right hand. "Purely there for moral support."

"To get moral supported?" Nadia guessed, batting her eyelashes at him.

"Maybe." He quipped, turning back to Emily. "You can keep an eye on me if I'm right down the hall." She smirked back at him before her eyebrow rose just a little and he knew he had won.

…

Aaron and Nadia's conversation.

"It's not like we can just cancel the whole thing."

"I'm just worried."

"i just think you're overreacting. She's had a hard few weeks."

"Has she talked to you about Lucy at all? About the pregnancy? Any of it?"

"No."

"See?"

"That doesn't mean anything. She's had a lot on her mind."

"I've been trying to remember, when she stopped talking about her. Like really stopped talking about her."

"She's been through a lot."

"Too much."


	18. Just feeling sorry for myself

"You tell the first lady that it's not happening." Seth told him, eyebrows arching into his hairline.

"Yeah." Aaron examined the ceiling of his friends office. "I'm not trying to be a killjoy or anything. I'm just saying I don't think she's going to handle it well."

"Emily is a lot of things." Seth made a ticking sound with his cheek before looking back at him. "But she's not fragile. She'll be fine."

Aaron watched him for a moment before nodding in what he wished was agreement, but was more defeat.

"You gonna be okay if I run this by Jenny?" He shook a stack of copy at him.

"I'm also not fragile." He reminded, then added after the Press Secretary as he moved down the hallway. "Despite what my girlfriend may have told you."

Aaron swiveled Seth's chair from side to side before letting his eyes fall on the photo of Kirkman on the wall by his desk. It felt good to be here, he decided, wondering if it simply felt good to be anywhere. He thought about the last time he'd stood in Seth's office. He'd asked about Emily, right before he'd tried to sneak out the door without seeing her. Probably not the best strategy, but at the time it was all he had. It was weird the overwhelming desire he had to both hold onto Emily for dear life when he felt like he was sinking, and to push her to safety. He wondered for a few minutes if she was maybe even more stubborn when it came to that then he was.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen." His back stiffened and the chair stilled. It had been a while, but Aaron Shore knew that voice anywhere. He plastered on his best look of indifference and turned to meet Abe Leonard head on.

…

"Again, I am going to have to advise against that Sir." Emily repeated herself, pushing her feet into the floor. Maybe if she pushed hard enough she'd crash through to the basement. The thought of the basement pushed a wave of relief through her body. The steam pipe distribution room. Rumor had it that it had once been an office given out to a staffer of the opposite party as a joke during the Bartlet administration. How many times had she and Aaron gone down there to make out in the beginning of their relationship? How many times had she found him hiding down there avoiding something he didn't want to do? She wondered for a millisecond why they had stopped going down there. Then she remembered.

"And while I respect your opinion Emily and your advice I'm going to have to stick to my original decision." Tom Kirkman sighed. Once upon a time he would have caught the momentarily haunted look on his CoS's face. He wouldn't have known it's true origin. He probably didn't even know there was a steam pipe distribution room or that she and Aaron had been down there during the bombing. He would have expected it had come from her displeasure at his choice and he'd have lowered his shoulders and given her a pep talk. Not that long ago Emily herself would have spent more than one small sentence trying to dissuade him. She would have appealed to his better angels, or his sense of decency. She didn't do that anymore.

She didn't offer up advice on how he could be more Tom Kirkman-ish, or accept his fatherly lessons in the larger morality. "I'm sorry."

"Of course Sir." She said crisply, without a hint of irritation. She wasn't irritated. She would have been once. "No apology necessary."

 _I serve at the pleasure of the President._ She added silently in her head.

"Aaron's in today?" Kirkman's had paused the shuffling of papers and he looked up brightly, remembering that fact.

"He's not 'in'." Emily told him with a raise of her eyebrow. "He's just visiting. No work for another week."

"I'd like to stop in and say hi." Kirkman brought his hands up, showing her his open palms in defeat. "No work."

"Of course." She was surprised at the endearing smile that slid across her lips and the faint glimmer of warmth she felt for him in that moment.

"Sir. Congresswoman Hookstratten is holding for you." The assistant's voice shrilled across the intercom. Emily jumped.

"Yes, Thank you." He told the phone, before looking up at Emily without a hint of remorse. The warm feeling rushed out of her like a breath held too long. "I'll stop in to see him?"

She nodded back at him, as if giving permission, before excusing herself. She held the small blue folder between her fingers so tightly it hurt.

"Kimble?" His voice held a bit of excitement. "Wonderful! I knew you'd come through."

Emily's jaw ached, reminding her to loosen her tightly clamped teeth. She made her way down towards Seth's office. She'd left the two of them there this morning laughing like two college roommates reunited after summer break. She could hear Aaron's booming voice coming from there now. It registered more quickly in her brain that the other voice wasn't Seth, than it did the fact that they were clearly not participating in a friendly conversation.

…..

Aaron was quite enjoying his little pissing contest with Abe. They were going back and forth about what a lying liar Kirkman was, what a loser Leonard was and what a good misguided soldier Aaron was.

It was almost like old times, sparring with some brilliant evil mastermind, almost like the days as DCOS. He smirked in ridicule of whatever Leonard had just said before turning towards the doorway to see a blur of powder blue fly into the room.

"What the hell are you doing?" She yelled, her eyes wild. For a second, Aaron assumed she was talking to him, but her gaze swung rapidly towards Leonard. "How did you even get in here?"

Abe said nothing, just looked at Emily like she may be insane.

"Em." Aaron said softly.

"Haven't you done enough?" Her body leaned towards him angrily, Aaron pulled her back in actual fear that she was going to hurt him. "He almost died because of you! You and God Damn Kimble Hookstratten!"

"Hookstratten?" Leonard grimaced.

"Yes! Yes!" Emily screeched, her hair falling into her face. Aaron stopped trying to restrain her and just watched her in horror. "We know she was your source, you dumbass! You're so protective of your damn sources willing to go to jail for them, like no one can figure it out. Like you're so damn smart! You smug son of a-."

She stopped, making a meek whimpering noise as she struggled to catch her breath. Aaron's hands were back on her in an instant.

"Emily breathe" He instructed.

"Kimble wasn't my source." Abe muttered absently.

"Wha-?" Emily's face screwed up into a grimace and she bent slightly at the waist. Aaron gripped at her upper arm pulling her down into a chair. "It wasn't-"

She shook her head as if to clear it before looking up at Aaron, her pupils swam. He felt his heart beat faster.

"It was the NSA guy, Whittaker the one who was removed. I thought that was because of-.." Leonard screwed up his face. "Is she okay?"

Seth picked that moment to crash into the doorway.

"What the hell? How do you get back-?" His eyes fell on Emily. "Shit."

"Get this ass out of here." Aaron told him quickly, holding her face in his hands. "Breathe."

"Yeah." Seth reached in the room and pulled at the reporter's arm, Abe came willingly.

"It's okay." Aaron grabbed Em's hands, cupped them and pressed them against her mouth and nose. "Breathe." He slid to his knees and she put her head against his shoulder. "You're okay."

"I'm not." She moaned,her voice echoing off her palms. He pressed a kiss into the side of her head. Her chest stopped heaving and he let her hands drop away. "Aaron, I'm not okay."

"It's going to get better." He mumbled into her ear.

"You guys okay?" Seth reappeared, going behind his desk and fishing out a water bottle. "I'm sorry about that. He does that all the time, I think I need a lock on the door or something."

He handed the bottle to Aaron who smiled at him, before turning it to Emily with an eyebrow raised. She smirked despite herself.

"We are going to get through this." He told her softly.

...

"Sir?" Seth looked up in surprise as Kirkman leaned into his office.

"I was looking for Aaron. Emily said he was in today." The President smiled, and Wright couldn't help smiling back.

"He took Emily home. She was having a rough day." Kirkman's eyes narrowed, his brow furrowing in concern.

"Everything okay?"

"Sure." Seth lied, nodding his head. "Just pregnancy stuff."

"Well she needs to rest up for the big surprise tomorrow." Kirkman grinned, Seth felt his stomach sink a little. Aaron was right this was a bad idea, but the Press Secretary grinned back anyway.

….

Aaron stroked his fingers down Emily's arm in slow short strokes, she pressed her back into his chest and exhaled. In the three hours since they'd gotten home, he'd run her a bath, made her soup and tucked her into bed.

"I'm supposed to be taking care of you." She murmured softly.

"You've been taking care of me for a month." He sighed. "I was starting to feel unnecessary." She turned her head to smirk at him. "Emily Rhodes' personal crisis management team is the best gig I got going right now."

"Good, looks like you'll be getting some overtime." She swallowed, he dipped his head back down and rested his chin in the curve of her shoulder.

"Does that mean you're finally going to talk to me?" He asked her calmly, his breath tickling the back of her ear. She let out a rush of breath. "I'm starting to actually worry."

"I picked some of that up yesterday." She confessed. "With Nadia."

"You really do speak more Spanish then you let on." He chuckled and she could feel his proud grin stretch against her jaw.

"Maybe a little more." She stiffened her lips to fight the growing smile. "I was thinking today, before I walked in on you and Abe, about the steam pipe distribution room."

"Yeah?"

"I forgot for a second. Why we don't go down there."

Aaron wondered if he should tell her that he still did. That the night of Kirkman's shooting, after he'd found out about the investigation he'd gone down there. He'd pressed his head against the desk and tried to see if he could just wake up. Wake up and find that it was still the night of the State of the Union and everything was as boring as it had been that morning.

"Can you believe it?" Emily laughed incredulously. "I forgot."

"A lot's happened." He reminded her.

"No Aaron I forgot that it all happened." She pushed herself up and turned towards him. "I forgot that there was a time before the Kirkman White House. That there was a time when the Capital was still there. A time when our biggest argument was over whether or not Richmond took HUD seriously enough and if I could go another month without telling my mother about the baby." He squinted his eyes at her. "I forgot that we used to be happy. A happy normal couple who made out in the basement."

He smiled sadly at the teary eyed woman in front of him.

"Everything got so twisted that day. So muddled." She shook her head at him. "So incredibly scary. Until then I never would have thought that the whole government could have been wiped out in one moment. That I could almost lose you. That something could happen to this baby."

She ran her fingertips lightly over her abdomen and Aaron laid his palm over the spot she had traced.

"Now I just sit there waiting for it to happen, because of course it will." She smiled sadly. "Of course it will. Of course the Vice President is corrupt and of course his wife will kill him in the most bizarre murder suicide. Of course you're being poisoned to death by the White House Spy. Of course. Each time I'm shocked this little voice inside me says 'How can you still be surprised? You should have seen this coming, Emily!'"

"Stop." He whispered startled by the angry way she'd said her own name. "We're all in the dark Em."

"Why does everyone keep it so much better hidden than me?" She huffed, as he pulled her into his arms and settled them back against the headboard.

"Well." He made a face. "I did leak confidential information."

"She wasn't even the source." Emily waved it off like that cleared the whole thing up.

"Still." He chuckled. "And as far as I know, no one else is trying to run the Government while creating a human being."

"All that makes me is a bad feminist." She snorted. "I'm walking proof you can't do it all!"

"And as far as I know, no one has ever made the leap from HUD staff directly to COS." He raised an eyebrow. "It's not exactly a direct route."

"So I'm a hormone crazed woman who can't handle the job she was promoted to?" Emily sighed.

"I did not say that." Aaron raised both his palms.

"It's not that I've never thought it." She snorted. "Like I said, i'm an affront to feminism. Add that to the failure list."

"Okay. Again I never said that, nor did I, in anyway, mean to imply that." He lowered his palms. "And i just want to point out you haven't failed at any of it." She rolled her eyes at him. "What? Kirkman is still President. You have not run screaming out of the building or been fired. Lucy is doing great. She's right on track. You were an amazing supportive partner during the scariest thing that's ever happened to me in my damn life and you made Abe Leonard disclose a source today." He shrugged his shoulders. "You're kind of killing it."

Emily smiled that wide toothy grin that made his heart melt a little.

"Killing it?" She laughed.

"Totally killing it." He countered. "Maybe just try and be a little less bullet proof? At least until Lucy's here?"

Her grin broke and she chewed at her lip.

"I do still want her, Aaron." She whispered softly. "I want you to know that. I love her and I want her more than anything." He pressed his lips together. "I just feel like i'm tempting fate you know? Like if I assume everythings going to be okay, if I admit that she's the most important thing, I'm giving 'them' ammunition against me. I'm tempting fate or something."

"We're winning Em." He reminded her. "They aren't winning. We are. We've fought back and won each time."

Emily swallowed back the urge to tell him to stop. That 'they' would hear him; Karma, Murphy's law, the evil forces. She wasn't sure who. She nodded instead, settling back into Aaron's arms as he arranged himself back in the bed.

"What if we just ran away?" She whispered after a few minutes, feeling his body stiffen ever so slightly.

"Is that what you want?" He asked evenly.

"Maybe." She sighed.

"I'm not going to say I never think about it." He swallowed hard. "And I signed on for this. You signed on with HUD." She snorted again at the ridiculousness of it all. "You could go stay with your family.."

"Yeah because that would ease my anxiety." She laughed.

"You could go stay with mine." He told her softly.

"You're serious?" She pushed off his chest and looked up at him. "You're serious."

"I'm not going to say I never think about it." He repeated. "The President did it." He reminded her. "Sent his family away."

"It was Alex's idea." She shook her head.

"It was a good idea." He told her.

"Aaron-." Emily shook her head.

"I'm not-." He stopped pressing his lips into her forehead and pulling her back to his chest. "I'm just saying I'm not going to pretend that I haven't thought about it. In the beginning, when you were afraid to leave the White House without me."

"You told me a mother's job is to keep her family together." She whispered. "I intend to do that. So if you think it's too dangerous for us, if you decide that, we'll leave. Together."

She could feel his throat constrict as he swallowed, thinking about all that had happened over the last month.

"Deal." He whispered back.

They laid there in silence for a while before Emily inhaled in irritation.

"Speaking of Alex, I have that lunch with her and some damn diplomat wives tomorrow." She sighed. "Maybe I can get out of it."

"Em?" Aaron grunted. "I'm not supposed to tell you.." He pulled back and looked at her mournfully.

"It's a baby shower." She realized, her heart sinking, Aaron nodded. Her eyes slipped shut. "Damn it."

…..

"I hate baby showers." Emily muttered.

"I know that." Aaron gripped the steering wheel. "I told them that. Repeatedly."

"And they still decided that I needed one?" She turned to look at him.

"Apparently, I was told, people don't hate their own baby showers?" He shrugged.

"I will." She sighed. "I really will."

"I told you I can feign a relapse." He raised his eyebrows at her as the Secret Service agent leaned forward to look into his car. "I'd do that for you."

"Mr. Shore, Ms. Rhodes." The man nodded politely.

"They'd probably just postpone." Emily rolled her eyes.

"Probably." He snickered.

"How come you don't have to come again?"

"Because Seth says we're doing something. He was vague so it probably sucks just as much." He was hoping it was something fun. It had been a while since he'd just had a fun easy going day.

"Yeah, well he'll probably try and take you to a bar." She rolled her eyes. "Probably a cigar bar or something. Forgetting you can't drink and that a cigar would probably kill you on site."

Aaron chuckled.

"How could he forget? It was in the typed instructions you gave him when he babysat me yesterday."

"And I returned to find you left in the care of Abe Leonard, sticking a fork in the electrical outlet." She raised her eyebrows at him as he pushed the car into park, he smiled back. She was so much better than yesterday. They were going to get through this.

They bantered through security, and across the lobby to the East Wing and to the door of the residence. The house staff lead them in and Emily took Aaron's hand and braced for the shout of surprise. She smiled politely at the pink decorated room, hugged Alex Kirkman and shook her head at Nadia, who looked at her slyly as if she could tell she wasn't surprised.

Tom was there, on his way out he insisted, giving her a quick hug before moving aside,

"Darling." Emily's faux surprise melted away into one of pure shock, as her eyes fell on the couple, rising from their seats on the first lady's sofa. "You were actually surprised!"

Aaron had moved closer, sensing her distress in a way only he could do. His eyes squinted at the couple. It had just dawned on him when Emily finally regained her composure.

"Mom." She said airily, turning to the man beside the woman. "Dad."


	19. Hard to mend the pieces

"So Aaron." Shore's eyes lifted from the gin and tonic, sans gin, he was holding and up to the bemused grin of his future father in law. "What are your career goals now since you let the little woman steal your job out from under you?"

Shore let the right side of his mouth slide upward in what he hoped was a coy smirk.

"I plan on coming back to the White House next week." He pressed his lips together. "Think I'll probably be doing some light housework there. You know; dishes, windows, until the baby comes."

"And then?" The man had Emily's poker face, that was for sure. Shore wondered if he had Emily's tells. He watched his eyebrows carefully, Emily's forehead always gave her away. That and the way her head would jerk slightly to the left when she felt insecure in a conversation. "Going to stay home and be Mr. Mom?"

"Tempting." Aaron held his drink out like he was acknowledging a toast. "But I think there may be some other opportunities opening up. We're actually going to be using the first family's Nanny."

"Paying out of pocket, obviously." Seth added. "Just want to make that clear to the American people."

"Thank you Seth." Aaron nodded.

"Kyle tells me you're still looking for a Vice President. Still haven't narrowed the field?" He tisked, he wondered if he'd brought up Kyle to rattle him.

"I wouldn't know, Sir. I've been out of the loop for over a month now." Aaron watched as Emily's father's forehead wrinkle for a fraction of a second before smoothing. Got ya.

"Yes. I have to admit we were confused when we heard about your.. Miscalculation." David Rhodes cocked his chin to the left, Aaron grinned.

"The poison or the leaking?" Aaron asked, his face pleasantly neutral to his own shortcomings in the way that had always made Emily crazy.

"It's been widely circulated that the poisoning is what lead to the leaking." Seth said helpfully his eyebrows hitting his hairline.

"Thank you, Seth." Aaron repeated.

"I know because I've circulated it widely." Wright mumbled to himself. Aaron smirked, taking another drink.

"Thank you, Seth." He chuckled, watching happily as the right side of Emily's father's mouth rose. "Wherever I end up I'm sure it will be the right place."

He felt his phone buzz on his hip and looked down quickly before answering.

"Hola. ¿Cómo va la fiesta?" He listened to his cousin's hushed tones his eyes flashing to Seth. "¿Dónde estás? Ok. Ok. Estaré allí en... " He looked at his watch. "Veinte minutos."

"Nadia?" Seth straightened out in an attempt to look less drunk than he was.

"I have to go." He pulled at his coat. "I'm sorry. They need me at the White House."

"You need me?" Seth asked softly.

"Not yet, make sure everyone gets home safely." He clapped his hand on his friends back. "Keep your phone on."

"Will do." Seth called as Aaron hurried out of the restaurant.

He made it back in half the time, making his way through the bullpen to Emily's office. Nadia slid off of the desk and made her way to the door. He spotted his girlfriend huddled on the far end of the couch.

"What happened?"

Nadia's tongue darted out of her mouth, as she prepared to explain.

"I flipped out." Emily said softly. "In front of the First Lady. And my mother."

"You had a panic attack." Nadia corrected. "And no one noticed."

Emily's head turned her blotchy and damp face slowly towards them with a snort.

"A champagne cork popped and I hit the roof." She shook her head at Aaron.

"It startled her." Nadia whispered, Emily snorted again. Aaron crossed the room and sat carefully beside her on the couch.

"Was it like with Leonard?" He put his hand on the small of her back as she snorted for the third time before her body crashed into his and she started to sob. He wrapped his arms around her.

"Alguien, por favor, dime qué sucedió." He muttered, pressing his lips into Emily's hair. Nadia opened her mouth but it was Emily who choked out a reply.

"I heard the shot my mind went blank and I ran and hid like a child." She snipped.

"You heard the cork pop." Nadia reminded her. "That's what you heard."

"Everyone was yelling." She breathed, Shore followed her eyes to a spot on the wall, .

"They were just celebrating." Nadia shook her head, Aaron put his hand up.

"Tom was-." She squeezed her eyes shut. He tried not to follow her mind back to the stage of the Capital that day. "You had my arms. You were pulling me away."

"We're okay." He told her softly. "It's over now. It's over."

"Is it?" She whispered.

"Nadia vuelve a la fiesta y les dice que Emily fue llamada. Luego, llame a Seth y hágale saber que estamos bien."

"It's not okay Aaron. None of this is okay."

"I thought she didn't speak Spanish." Nadia whispered.

"Yeah neither did she." He pulled himself and Emily up from the sofa. "Come on. I'm taking you to GW."

"What? Why?" Emily rubbed the palm of her hand against her teary face.

"Well the last time I had a panic attack I was being poisoned so…" He hummed, reaching over and grabbing her purse.

"Aaron-." She smirked at the preposterousness of his comment.

"Better safe than sorry."

…

"Everything looks fine." The doctor smiled at them.

"I told you." Emily muttered from the bed. Aaron nodded at the doctor.

"The baby looks great." The woman continued. "So now let's just get Mom fixed up and we'll send you on your way."

"I thought you said it looked fine?" Emily sat very still.

"Em. She's not talking about physically." Aaron told her calmly, coming over and sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I think that you're experiencing something called pregnancy induced anxiety." The woman looked down at the chart in front of her and then back at her patient. Emily shook her head and looked up at her boyfriend..

"That's not really a thing..?" Aaron held her eyes.

"It's not uncommon. Especially in women who have experienced trauma during their pregnancy."

"I haven't-." Her head started to shake again. .

"Emily." Aaron's body arched back as his eyes shot to the ceiling. He swung his body off the bed bracing himself against the chair beside it. "For God's sake."

"I haven't been through more or less of a trauma than anyone else." She told him sharply.

"We're not talking about anyone else!" He shouted, before scrubbing at his face with his palms before sagging against the wall. "Jesus Christ can we just-."

Emily watched him, letting her eyes sweep over the rise and fall of his shoulders as he breathed too heavily for her liking. She listened to it echo across the suddenly quiet room.

"Dr. Randall?" Her voice sounded clear. "Do you feel it's appropriate to yell at someone with pregnancy induced anxiety?"

She caught the self deprecating smirk on his lips before he closed his eyes tightly, his chin tilted to towards the floor.

"I think we can let it slide this once." The older woman whispered.

"I'm assuming there is medication I can take? Some form of meditation ritual I'm going to be forced into?" She asked softly. She kept her eyes on her boyfriend as the woman confirmed her assumptions. He finally lifted his face to meet her gaze, swallowing hard. She gave him her own form of an apologetic smile. "Do you know if Dr. Pariti is in the hospital tonight?"

"Jenya?" She paused. "I think so."

"I'd like to have her come down and take a look at him if she has a moment." Aaron swallowed again and Emily fought to keep the tears from her voice. "He's been through a bit more trauma lately then the rest of us."

"I'll let her know Mr. Shore is here." She moved towards the door. "No more yelling Mr. Shore."

"Yes Ma'am." He whispered.

"I'm sorry." Emily reached out her hand to him and he crossed the room slowly to take it.

"You didn't yell." He reminded her, dropping beside her on the bed like a rock. "I'm okay."

"You're short of breath." Emily whispered, kissing his knuckles.

"Nothing new." He shrugged.

"I thought you were headed towards the floor there for a second." She tilted her head at him. He smirked.

"I'm sure Dr. Randall would have loved that." He swung his feet up, turning on his side to face her, his fingers tracing circles in her hospital gown. She was struck by how quickly she'd forgotten he'd almost died.

"Life moves so fast in this new reality." She mused, he snorted at her in agreement.

"I'm beginning to think you two need your own suite." Dr. Jenya Pariti shook her head, her long black hair swinging against her narrow face.

"I missed you." Aaron quipped.

"Oh is that it?" She huffed back at him, pulling her stethoscope from behind her neck. "Unbutton your shirt." Emily giggled at his pained expression. "Well? What are you waiting for? I'm not even going to buy you dinner first, take off your shirt so I can see those lovely accessory muscles."

He raised his eyes at his girlfriend and she grinned wickedly as he sat up again and started unbuttoning.

"They are lovely." She teased. He smiled at her the first real smile she'd seen since they'd left the apartment.

…..

Aaron's Spanish translation:

"Hi, hows the party going?" He listened to his cousin's hushed tones his eyes flashing to Seth. "Where are you? Ok. Ok. I'll be there in.. " He looked at his watch. "Twenty minutes."

"Somebody, please, tell me what happened."." He muttered, pressing his lips into Emily's hair. Nadia opened her mouth but it was Emily who choked out a reply.

"Nadia go back to the party and tell them that Emily had to take a call. Then, call Seth and let him know we're fine."


	20. and you see me

Medication or not, Emily Rhodes was about to lose her shit.

"I'm just wondering why you went with the yellow. You know she's a girl. You could have done the whole room up in in pink and ruffles." Her mother called from the hall.

"We picked yellow mom." Emily called back deadpanned, her eyes scanning her lap top before looking up at Allison. "Do you have the breakdown of the farm bill?" Her assistant nodded, handing her a folder. "Thank you. And Seth has what he needs for this?"

"He says he does."

"I understand that you picked yellow. I just don't understand why you would pick yellow."

"It's sunny." She tried not to sound annoyed. "Will you let him know I want to see the release before it goes out?"

Allison nodded, picking up her phone and tapping at the screen.

"Darling what good is it working at home if you're going to spend the whole day working?" She sat with a huff in Aaron's chair. Emily glanced up, trying to not notice the way her mother's judgmental eyes flicked around the living room.

"Mom, please." She sighed. "With everything going on I'm behind as it is."

"You should eat." She decided. "Excuse me, Dear." She snapped her fingers at Allison. "Could you get us some lunch?"

Allison's eyes widened for just a second before Emily's voice made her jump.

"Mom, Allison is the executive assistant to the White House Chief of Staff. She doesn't order lunch. She's working, please don't snap at her." She pressed her hand to her forehead. Hoping that Alison wouldn't remind her of the dozens of times she'd ordered lunch for both her and Aaron.

"I'm sorry. I thought an assistant provided assistance."

"Mom please-." Her attention was diverted when the door swung open and Aaron's eyes hit hers.

"Hi." He chirped in an unnaturally high voice. Emily brows lifted and she glanced over his shoulder at her dad.

"Hi."

"We brought lunch." He held up a take out bag, the stack of files teetering in his hand. "And I grabbed the rest of the information on Senator Lyman's school safety bill."

"Oh. God, I'd forgotten all about it." She rolled her eyes. "Allison can you-?"

"I'll get you notes by two." She smiled at her.

"You're fantastic. I'm a horrible boss."

"I on the other hand-." Aaron grunted setting the bags on the table and rummaging through one. "Am an amazing boss. I brought you a chef salad, greek dressing and a side of fries."

"You're the best." Allison exhaled taking the bags into the kitchen with her files.

"You just live to make me look bad." Emily groaned as Aaron pressed a kiss to her lips before handing her a take out bag.

"I got you fries too." He hummed. "And I came back. With your dad.. Even though I almost assigned an intern to do it and hid at the office."

"Lets go to the mother's making me crazier." She whispered conspiratorially.

"Ah. I have an even better plan." He grinned at her.

"Oh Aaron darling you didn't have to bring lunch. We could have sent the assistant out for something" Giana Rhodes tossed her hand to the side dramatically.

"Mom I have already told you that's not Allison's job." Emily sighed.

"Allison has a ton of work to do. I am still technically unemployed. I am happy to pick up lunch for my lovely ladies." He leaned in and kissed his future mother in laws cheek. She clucked at him approvingly. "I also picked up something else." He reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a small envelope. "The first lady is hosting a showing of Hamilton at the Ford this afternoon and she was falling all over herself to make sure that you and Mr. Rodes were in her box with her."

"Isn't that the one where they rap?" Emily's father piped up from the other side of the room.

"Just a little." He gave him a quick nod. "But it's going to be attended by just about anyone who is anyone in DC." Giana's eyebrow rose. "After lunch, I'll run you back over to the hotel and you can get ready."

"Wonderful darling." She said emphatically, turning back to the take out as Emily grinned at her boyfriend. He winked at her.

…

Emily sunk her body into the bathtub with a sigh, letting the quiet apartment soothe her raw nerves. Aaron had finally left with her parents and Allison was hard at work in the living room. She jumped as her phone rang, reaching down and rolling her eyes at the screen before picking it up. Working from home was supposed to be relaxing.

"Yes Lyor." She pressed her hand against her forehead. "Wait that's today? I thought you were taking Debbie with you? No. No No. You cannot go alone." She shook her body, sending ripples of water splashing over the side of the tub. "Because you're you, and you will screw this up. You always screw things like this up!"

She scrambled for the towel, awkwardly trying to maneuver her pregnant body over the side of the bathtub and back into her bedroom. She grabbed at the towel.

"No. No I will meet you there, and you will wait for me outside of the meeting room." She swung the door open, Allison looked up as she tossed her phone back onto the bed. "I have to go to the EOB. Can you get me a car?"

"Why are we going to the EOB?"

"I'm going to the EOB because Lyor Boone is socially inappropriate. You are going to the office or we'll never get caught up." Allison nodded and picked up the phone.

…...

Aaron rounded the corner of the Oval Office, pulling at his tie.

"Where are we at?" He yelled to his assistant.

"The power is out everywhere. No idea what's going on. I talked to the three major hospitals affected and all of them are doing fine on generator power, as are we. The Mayor is in with him now they're setting up emergency sites around the city and having generators brought in.. Emily's parents are in the West Wing with the first lady."

"The kids?"

"They were with her at the theater, they're with her now."

"Great day to play hookie." Aaron sighed. "Seth in the briefing room?" Josh nodded.

"Aaron the president wants you." A voice called from just outside.

"I'm coming."

"Can you call the house and check on Emily and Allison? I can't get her on her cell." He rushed off before Josh had a chance to tell him that Allison was already there.

…..

Two hours into the major blackout, Aaron Shore stuck his head into his girlfriend's office.

"Oh thank god you guys are here. I've been trying to call."

"When did you get here?"

"I made sure Emily's parents were taken care of, then I went to work." He rubbed his face. "This is a nightmare. Where is she?"

"At the EOB."

"Why?" He scrunched up his face.

"Something about Lyor Boone being antisocial?"

"Who's Lyor Boone?"

"The new political advisor?"

"And he's antisocial?"

"Apparently?"

"She hasn't called?" Allison shook her head. "Can you call the antisocial political advisor please?"

"You got it." Allison nodded as Aaron hurried back towards the President.

…...

"Mr Shore?" Aaron hurried over to the scrawny little man with glasses. "I'm Lyor Boone. They Secret Service said you were looking for me?"

"Yes. You were apparently the last person to see Emily before she vanished from the face of the earth-."

"That's pretty unlike-." He quipped back.

"Where was the last place you saw her?" Aaron interrupted putting his palms out to stop the spill of words he could almost see the man preparing.

"We were on the fourth floor, just leaving the meeting with Minister Omono and she was lecturing me about how I messed up this and screwed up that. You know, how she does?" Aaron made a quick gesture for him to speed up. "Well I'm sure you know how she does. We were going down the hall and she said 'Where's the elevator' which I thought was weird because she hates small spaces, so I said. 'I thought you hated small spaces?' and she spots an elevator and starts walking over there, but I had 10,000 more steps so I wasn't about to get on a elevator-."

"Elevator." Aaron mumbles, looking around quickly. Lyor pointed in the direction and they both started walking, he opened and door and Aaron followed him wordlessly around a corner.

"And she says, 'I don't feel like walking anymore, these braxton hicks contractions are really starting to piss me off.' And I said-."

"Wait what?" Aaron turned back to face the other man.

"-And I said, walking actually relieves Braxton Hicks contractions and she says. 'Well not these." and I say. 'It's probably because your in Labor.'"

"Labor?" Aaron looked at him, his eyebrows arching.

"Yes. You'd be surprised how many women are in active labor and don't even know it." He nodded at Aaron smugly.

"Then what happened?!" Shore all but shouted.

"The doors shut." Lyor shrugged a shoulder, pointing across the hallway at a pair of elevator doors.


End file.
